Charmed
by Bodge
Summary: The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.
1. It Began With A Picnic Basket

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

I was going to incorporate this into one of my other fics, but it semed to grow and grow until it was worthy of it's own fiction. I've already got rough ideas for a few chapters, but if anyone has any ideas or anything you'd like to see let me know and I'll try my best to fit it in somewhere.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1- It Began With A Picnic Basket<strong>

Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman had always been close, they'd met at temple when they were still in diapers, and had been firm friends, or if you asked their parents, partners in crime, even before they could talk. That all changed when they moved to high school, Noah joined the football team and fell in with the wrong crowd, Rachel joined every after school club that didn't involve sports and knuckled down with her studies. Noah wanted to be popular and so followed in the footsteps of the other jocks, he threw kids in dumpsters, the ones who avoided the dumpster usually ended up with a slushie facial. Rachel wanted to be the best, and didn't stop until she was coming top in all her classes. Unfortunatley this made her a popular target for the bullies and slushie facials and the subsequent clean up soon became as much a part of her day as her morning workout routine or her lunch period.

Everything changed again when Mr Schuester started the glee club, at first things got worse for Rachel, but then cheerleaders and jocks began to join the club, and slowly the hierarchy began to break down. Unfortunatly this meant that Puck was now on the recieving end of the slushie facials he once used to give freely. Rachel enjoyed being able to spend time with her oldest friend once again, and she soon began to see traces of her Noah pushing Puck aside.

They briefly dated after the whole babygate drama had died down, but lasted less than a week before deciding they were better off as friends, but it was Noah, not Puck, that Rachel turned to after Jesse broke her heart, and again when she found out Finn had slept with Santana.

If he was completley honest Puck was a little bit gutted when he found out Rachel and Finn got back together after nationals, but he put on a show face even Rachel would be proud of and told his friends he was happy for them.

The Glee club spent most of the summer together, just hanging out at one anothers houses or at the park, making the most of the free time they had before their final year of school started. This obviously meant Puck spent a lot of time watching Finn and Rachel playing tonsil tennis.

"You're still into her aren't you" Santana asked as they sat in Kurt's basement.

"I don't know what you're on about" he lied before leaving the room to get himself a drink.

Then Puck's mom got sick, and he was overwhelmed with dirty dishes, keeping his sister entertained, and he had absolutley no idea how to work the washing machine and was fast running out of clean outfits for him and his sister to wear. Rachel was his saving grace, coming over without being asked, cleaning all the dishes, teaching him how to do laundry, but not trusting him with the iron, she even taught him how to cook several simple meals, and did girly shit with his sister to give him some time on his own.

He was furious the night she turned up on his doorstep, tears streaming down her face as she explaained how Finn had once again changed his mind and gone running back to Quinn. Puck had held Rachel until she calmed down, and he didn't pull away when she gently bought her lips against his. He'd missed her, truth be told he'd not really been intimate with anyone since he'd broken up with her, he and Lauren had never really done anything physical, and Puck didn't really care too much when she broke up with him because her parents were moving away.

It seemed like everyone else knew Puck and Rachel were meant for each other before they themselves did, the glee club had a sweepstake, which Tina won, on when they would get together and Hiram and Leroy Berry had told him it was about time when he asked permission to take Rachel on a date, yeah he was a badass, but Leroy Berry scared the shit out of him. They'd happily allowed him to take Rachel out, on the condition that he bought her home by 11.30, and even gave him a box of condoms 'just in case', even though Puck knew he wasn't going to do anything on the first date with Rachel, she was Rachel Berry, she wasn't just going to be another one of his hook ups.

"Wow, Rach, you look amazing." He didn't think it was possible, but she actually took his breath away as she walked down the stairs into his line of sight, the dark blue summer dress stopped at her knees and her hair was curled loosley around her shoulders.

"Thank you" she stepped into his waiting embrace, "you look very handsome too" she told him, taking in his dark jeans and pale blue shirt.

Rachel smiled and slipped on her sandles before picking up her cardigan and clutch bag from the stairs, "Are you ready Noah?" she waved her hand infront of his face to get his attention.

"What?"

Rachel laughed softly, "I said are you ready? I just need to say goodbye to my daddies and then we can go" she turned to walk into the living room where her fathers were watching tv to give the young couple space.

"No" Puck reached out for Rachel's arm, "I mean before we go, I erm got you this" he handed her a long thin velvet box.

"Noah" she gasped, "you shouldn't have".

"Open it" he encouraged, "My sister helped me choose it, if you like it I'll take the compliments, if you don't like it she takes the blame" he grinned.

Rachel laughed and punched his arm lightly before opening the box to reveal a silver charm bracelet, "Oh Noah" she sighed, her eyes filling with tears as she ran her fingers over the charms already on the bracelet, "it's so beautiful".

"I thought we could kinda add to it as we went along" he explained as he wiped the tears from Rachel's cheeks, "but this is where it starts" he told her gesturing to the charms already on the bracelet, a silver 'R' hung from one end of the bracelet, a matching 'N' at the opposite end with a silver heart hanging exactly in the middle of the two letters.

"Noah" Rachel began to sob, she'd always felt like she and Finn were meant to be, but he'd never done anything this thoughtful, he'd never given her jewlery, he'd never really bought her anythign, not even flowers or chocolates.

Puck began to panic, "If you don't like it Rach I can take it back, you can come too, choose something else, I don't mind"

"No, no" she shook her head, "it's just, I love it Noah, thank you so much".

"Come here" Puck laughed, pulling Rachel into a tight embrace, kissing her hair and wiping her cheeks as her tears finally stopped.

"Will you put it on for me?" Rachel whispered as she pulled away.

"I thought you'd never ask" he grinned, carefully fastening the bracelet around her delicate wrist, the silver complementing her tanned skin perfectly. He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it gently, "beautiful" he smiled.

Rachel smiled too before excusing herself to say goodbye to her fathers and leaving the house hand in hand with Noah.

He'd surprised her with a picnic by the lake, everything was home made, vegan friendly and in Rachel's eyes absolutley perfect. Once they'd eaten they laid on the blanket gazing up at the stars as they spoke about nothing in particular. Puck felt Rachel shiver beside him and slipped off his jacket, wrapping it around her tiny shoulders before pulling her closer to him, holding her tightly as she moved her head to lie on his chest. He began to sing softly to her, and was surprised to find she'd fallen asleep. He carefully lifted her into his truck and drove her home. It was 10.57 when he knocked softly on Rachel's door, hoping her fathers were still up.

Hiram raised an eyebrow as he saw Rachel in Puck's arms, "she fell asleep" the young boy explained, "she looked so peaceful I didn't want to wake her." Hiram smiled and directed him up to her bedroom where he laid her in the bed, slipped off her shoes and pulled the overs over her, leaving his jacket wrapped around her. He glanced around the room before finding a notebook on her desk. He tore out a sheet of paper and grabbed a pen before scribbling a note, kissing Rachel's cheek and leaving her sleeping peacefully.

Rachel frowned as she woke the next morning, she didn't remember coming home, she remembered lying by the lake with Noah, she remembered him sining to her but then nothing. She gasped as she threw back the covers, finding herself in last night's clothes and Noah's jacket. It was only when she returned from the bathroom that she noticed the note on her bedside table. 'Rach' She recognised Noah's handwriting instantly, 'you fell asleep by the lake so I drove you home, your dad's know you're back, and you were home before curfew. I had a great time, and I'll ring you in the morning. N x p.s. I thought you'd like a permenant reminder of our first date.'

Once again she was confused, she had a reminder, he'd got her the bracelet. Her left hand instinctivley went to her right wrist, it was bare. She almost broke down in tears, she couldn't believe she'd lost the bracelet already. It took a moment for her to notice it sat on the edge of her bedside table, and when she picked it up she noticed something was different, a silver picnic basket hung between the 'R' and the love heart.


	2. A Stupid Hat

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

First of all I wanted to say a massive thank you for all the reviews/alerts/favourites from the last part. I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of people who liked this!

And secondly, just as a heads up, I know nothing about the American school system except what I learnt from a brief glance at wikipedia, I've not gone into too much detail, but anything's a little bit wrong can we pretend that it's not, but if it's majorly wrong let me know and I'll fix it. Thanks, and enjoy chapter 2!

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><p><strong>Chapter 2- A Stupid Hat<br>**

Rachel and Puck surprised everyone but their closest friends when they made it to the end of their senior year without breaking up. Sure they'd had arguments, stormed out of rooms to get away from each other, but it only took a few hours for them both to calm down before they sorted themselves out and Rachel was back in Noah's arms where she belonged. Rachel felt safe when she was with Noah, she knew he'd never intentionally hurt her and she knew that she was going to give herself to him completely before she left for New York.

Everyone was surprised at how gentle and loving Puck was when he was with Rachel, the only people that weren't surprised were Rachel and their parents, they all knew that he was Noah when he was with Rachel and Noah didn't care about being a badass, he cared about the people he loved. The Noah Rachel knew was the same Noah that spent Sunday mornings cheering on his sister at dance practice before taking her for pancakes, picking Rachel up and then watching disney films with them both. Rachel didn't need to ask, she already knew Noah was her Prince Charming.

She wore the bracelet almost constantly, only taking it off to shower or sleep. She'd rearranged the charms not long after their first date and now, when the bracelet was laid flat the charms were all on the left hand side of the bracelet.

"I want the charms to be in the order of the events they represent" she'd told Noah, "it's only logical that the charm that represents our first date should be at the beginning". Noah didn't care. If Rachel was happy he was happy. She'd then moved the love heart to sit after their initials but before the picnic basket, reasoning with Puck that they were Rachel and Noah to begin with, then they fell in love. With this reasoning Noah insisted on taking the heart from the bracelet. He wouldn't tell Rachel why, he just promised she'd get it back, and she did, only now both their initials had been engraved together on the front.

Their relationship had progressed slowly, they'd been together for almost a month before they did anything more than hold hands. Noah had quickly discovered that Rachel was a touchy feely sort of person and it wasn't uncommon to find her tucked under his shoulder his arm slung casually around her waist, and the glee club had become used to finding her sat on his lap snuggled into his chest during practice. They'd been together almost three months when she asked him if he wanted to stay the night, her fathers didn't mind and for the first time in his life Noah Puckerman was happy to spend the night at a girls house when he knew for sure he wouldn't be getting laid. They'd not spent a night apart since. They alternated between his house and hers and no matter how far apart they would be when they fell asleep Puck always woke up to find Rachel either laying on top of him or curled tightly into his side, it was like she couldn't survive without him and they both worried about how she would cope in New York.

Graduation was slowly creeping up on them and the pair spent many hours talking about their future. Rachel didn't want to leave Noah and Noah didn't want to leave his mom and sister. Their conversations either consisted of Rachel begging Noah to join her in New York or suggesting that she should stay in Lima with him. Noah said the same thing every time she said she wanted to stay, he told her he loved her and while he wanted to be with her she was destined for bigger and better things. He told her that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if she gave up her dreams to stay in Lima before reassuring her that he loved her and promising he would visit at least one weekend every month.

Puck woke as he felt Rachel toss and turn beside him, "Babe" he groaned, "it's" he forced one eye open and glanced at the clock before closing it and pulling Rachel into him, "3am why aren't you sleeping?"

"I'm nervous" she whispered, "I can't sleep, I didn't mean to wake you, I can go downstairs, sleep on the couch if you'd rather, it's not fair to be keeping you up."

She tried to stand from the bed but Puck held her tightly, "less of the words Rach, it's 3am, and we're in your house Rach, you don't sleep on the couch in your own house unless your grandma's crashing over" He pulled her to lay against him and she dropped her head onto his chest before he kissed her hair and spoke again, "why are you so nervous?"

"Noah, we are graduating tomorrow, I have to get up on that stage in front of all those people. . ."

Puck interrupted her, "You were born to be on stage Rach"

"But what if is get my words wrong, what if i trip over?" No one was surprised when Rachel was given the honour of giving the valedictorian's speech, and she'd spent longer than Puck cared to remember writing, rewriting and practising the speech. Puck was convinced he'd be able to recite it in his sleep if he needed to.

"You'll be fine Rach"

"You don't know that"

"I do"

"How"

"How many times have you forgotten the lyrics to a song when you've been on stage? How many times have you tripped over at nationals? Never. It's not going to happen now. You've got cue cards for your speech and if you forget anything I'll come up there and say it with you okay?"

He felt Rachel nod against his chest, "thank you"

"Anytime babe" Noah kissed her again, "now let's sleep, I know you've already had more than your fair share, but I need all the beauty sleep I can get"

"I love you Noah"

"Love you more" Noah replied before he kissed Rachel for a third time and allowed himself to fall back to sleep.

Rachel woke him much earlier than he'd hoped she would, he briefly considered rolling over and sleeping for another hour but then he heard the click of the bathroom lock and the sound of Rachel belting out show tunes as she showered and he knew he'd got all the sleep he'd be getting for now.

It was almost an hour and half later that Leroy found Noah banging on Rachel's bathroom door telling her to hurry up so he could shower. Luckily Leroy took pity on the young man and offered Puck the ensuite in the master bedroom. Noah thanked Leroy, grabbed his clothes and yelled through the bathroom door to let Rachel know where he was going.

Even though Rachel stared getting ready almost two hours before Puck, he was still sat in the living room with Hiram and Leroy for almost half an hour before Rachel came down stairs.

"I think I'm ready" she said quietly, distracting Noah and her fathers from the police show they were watching.

"Woah" Noah did a double take before jumping from the sofa, "Rachel"

"Do I look okay?" she asked smoothing invisible creases from her dress.

"Okay?" Noah was speechless, "Rachel, you look, you look fucking awesome" he used the only words he could think of.

"Rachel" Hiram was already tearing up, "you look beautiful"

"Yeah" Leroy agreed as he picked up the camera, "but what's new?"

"Hitting on my girl Berry?" Puck growled jokingly as Rachel straightened his tie.

Leroy raised an eyebrow, "your girl? I think you'll find she was my girl long before she was yours. Now shut up and smile"

Leroy and Hiram took several pictures of the couple both posing and natural, Noah took some pictures of Rachel and her dads before setting the timer and getting pictures of the four of them.

They left early for the ceremony to meet Puck's mom and sister and take yet more photos before Noah and Rachel had even collected their gowns.

"I feel like a dick" Puck announced once he was finally wearing the cap and gown.

"You look very handsome Noah" Rachel told him as she straightened both his tie and his cap.

"Glad you think so babe cos we all know I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you". Even Noah's mom had been surprised at how quickly his grades had improved under Rachel's influence and while he was by no means an A+ student he hadn't failed any of his classes.

Puck was beginning to think that graduation was all about posing for pictures, he'd had the official pictures taken, but then both his mom and Rachel's dads had wanted to take some of their own, and then they found the rest of the glee club and their parents and everyone had wanted a million and one different combinations of people. When Mr Schue found them everyone went crazy, now he had to deal not only with constantly having his photo taken, but everyone kept hugging him, he frequently had to stop Rachel freaking out, there were people crying already, and his stupid hat kept falling off.

Rachel was amazing, but Noah wasn't surprised. She didn't trip over, she didn't stumble over a single word, the audience loved her, she really was made to be on the stage. She'd found him almost the minute the ceremony was over, seeking out his approval, and he'd simply told her that she was brilliant, that she'd owned the stage and that he was proud to be able to call her his girlfriend.

She didn't leave his side at all for the rest of the afternoon, in the rest of the pictures that were taken her fingers were firmly entwined with his and she was within touching distance at the party Will and Emma had thrown for the glee club and their parents that evening.

They only broke away briefly to shower once they were home, Noah once again using Hiram and Leroy's ensuite whilst Rachel used her own bathroom. This time she only took five minutes more than him, and carefully settled herself onto his lap when she joined the three men in the living room.

"Rach" Noah noticed she was falling asleep in his arms.

"Yeah"

"I know there are going to be like a million photos of me in that stupid hat put on facebook in the next couple of days, but I got you this too" he pulled a small fabric pouch out of his pocket and she knew instantly that it was the next charm for her bracelet, a small silver graduation cap to remind her of the day Noah couldn't keep a hat on his head, the first day of the rest of their lives.


	3. The Little Apple

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

Thanks for all the reviews/alerts/favourites! I'm not going to become one of those authors that insists on a certain number of reviews or whatever before I give you the next part, but knowing you guys like this really does encourage me to write more. That said it's probably going to be a couple of days before the next part because I want to get at least one part for each of my other fics written first.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 - The Little Apple<br>**

Noah hated it when people cried. He hated it even more when it was Rachel crying. Today was the day she was moving to New York and it was breaking her heart. The car was all packed up and all that was left to do was for Rachel to let go of Noah and get into the car. Noah didn't know how Rachel had any tears left to cry, they'd barley slept, instead Rachel had spent the night sobbing in Noah's arms. They'd finally fallen asleep just after five am only for Rachel's alarm to wake them at 7.30. The morning had picked up pretty much where the night left off, only this time Noah cried too.

"I miss you so much Noah" she sobbed into his chest, they'd been stood in the driveway for the past fifteen minutes as Rachel tried to say goodbye, "I haven't even left yet but I already miss you so much Noah".

"I know babe" he kissed her hair, "but look on the bright side, I'll be with you in less than two weeks Rach, just thirteen days and I'll be there with you for four days"

Rachel sobbed again, she'd spent 95% of the summer by Noah's side, and two weeks seemed like a lifetime for them to be apart, "I don't want to go" she whispered, "I want to stay here with you". It was the fifth time in two hours that Rachel had said she didn't want to go to New York.

Noah shook his head, "Not gonna happen Babe. You're going to get in that car and take New York by storm, and you won't be on your own for long, I told you, now I've got this job I just need to save some money, for us and for my ma and then I'm going to be right there by your side, six months, a year tops and until then I'm going to be spending every weekend I can in New York."

"I can defer a year" Rachel suggested, not for the first time, "we can both go to New York next year."

"Or you can get your butt in that car and go and do what you've always dreamed of doing. I love you Rachel, and I hate seeing you like this, but babe, I'd hate it even more if I knew you were putting off chasing your dreams because of me".

Rachel nodded and turned to her fathers, "I, I think I'm ready."

"Okay sweetheart" Hiram smiled before joining Leroy in the car.

"I love you" Rachel told Noah.

"I love you too" he kissed Rachel softly, "text me when you get there yeah, so I know you're safe"

"Can we skype later?"

"Yeah" Noah nodded, "just let me know what time."

Rachel glanced at her watch, "we should be there by 8, 8.30" she informed him, "can we skype at 9.15?"

"Yeah. but I still want you to text me when you get there." Rachel nodded and Noah kissed her again before reluctantly pulling away and pushing her gently towards the car. "I love you Rachel, don't forget that".

Rachel couldn't speak, she just nodded and silently climbed into the car as tears streamed down her face.

Noah stood on the street long after the car had disappeared from view. He felt awful, he felt like Hiram and Leroy had driven off with part of him in that car. He sighed loudly before getting in his truck and driving back to his own house. His mother made him breakfast and he took a long shower before climbing into bed, trying to catch up on the sleep he'd missed out on the night before. He laid staring at the ceiling for a while, tossing and turning but sleep evaded him. It was half an hour later when he finally pulled himself from his bed, he knew he wasn't going to fall asleep, his bed felt so empty without Rachel.

It was almost two hours after Rachel had left that Mrs Puckerman finally got sick of her son moping around the house, "Noah" she said sternly, "go after her if you miss her so much"

"I can't Ma"

"You can and you will Noah. Go and be with Rachel, your sister and I will be fine, you've already done enough for this family Noah, it's time for you to live your own life now." Noah looked thoughtful, "I packed your bags this morning, they're in the cupboard by the hall with your guitar."

"You sure you'll be okay?"

"Yes" Mrs Puckerman hugged her son. "Say hi to Rachel for me"

"I will Ma. I'll ring you later, love you."

"I love you too Noah" she called after him as he practically ran out of the house.

Noah flung his bags into the truck and paused only to text Hiram before pulling off the drive and heading to New York.

Hiram smiled as he received Noah's text. _ 'Couldn't do it, I'm on my way to NY, don't tell Rach.' _He glanced into the back seat to find Rachel curled up in her duvet, clutching a pillow to her chest as she slept peacefully, "Noah's about two hours behind you" he told Leroy, "I guess you owe me twenty bucks"

Leroy laughed, "I thought he'd at least last a day."

The rest of their journey passed smoothly, they only made one stop so Hiram and Leroy could switch places, and it was a little after 8.30 when they finally pulled into the parking lot underneath Rachel's apartment block. The apartment itself was further out of the city than Rachel would have liked, but it was modern and spacious, and for the price of the fully furnished apartment she now had, she would probably only have been able to afford a shoebox in a shared house closer into the city.

Rachel's dads helped her unpack before offering to take her out for dinner, but she declined their offer. Instead she showered and changed into Noah's sweat pants and hoodie before joining her fathers for takeout in the living room. She sat in front of her laptop for forty five minutes before crying to Hiram and Leroy when Noah failed to come online. She was convinced that he was already back to his old ways, and no matter how much her fathers tried to convince her that he was probably busy helping his mom with something, Rachel couldn't help but worry that he was already seeing someone else.

The buzzer to her apartment rang at 10.17, Rachel looked puzzled as she stood to answer it, "h, hello"

"You gonna leave me standing out here all night or can I come in and see my new place?"

Rachel screamed into the handset, "I'll be right down." she told him before hanging up and turning to her fathers, "Noah's here" she grinned, bouncing around the kitchen excitedly.

"Go get him then Rach" Leroy said with a smile as Rachel ran out of the apartment.

She waited for the lift for less than four seconds before becoming impatient and running down all twelve flights of stairs, throwing open the main door to the apartment block and jumping into Noah's arms. It was little over thirteen hours since the couple had last been together, but to Rachel and Noah it felt like a lifetime had passed.

They stood silently in the doorway of the apartment block for a while, Rachel in Puck's arms, her arms around his neck, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist she laid her head on his shoulder as he swayed gently, kissing her neck occasionally. It was only when Noah again asked if she was going to show him his new home that she allowed herself to let go, but only so he could pick up his bags and follow her into the building. She didn't say anything as they rode back up to the twelfth floor, but every now and again she'd catch Noah's eye and smile, she couldn't believe that he'd driven all the way to New York to be with her and she'd completely forgotten the fact that just half an hour ago she was sobbing in her father's arms, convinced he was already having an affair.

When they finally got back to the apartment they found Leroy and Hiram waiting by the door with their own bags, they greeted Noah before confessing to Rachel that they knew Noah was on his way to New York and had booked themselves into a hotel. They promised they'd meet Rachel and Noah for a late breakfast before reminding Rachel that her bedroom here wasn't soundproofed like her one at home, and leaving the couple alone.

"So" Rachel smiled shyly when her fathers had left, "do you want to try out my new bed?"

Noah laughed, she'd come a long way from the girl he first made love to just a few short weeks ago, "I do babe, but all I want to do is sleep, I mean we hardly slept last night, and I've just driven none stop for over 10 hours, I'm exhausted Rach"

"Noah, are you telling me you drove all the way from Lima to here without once stopping for a proper rest break?"

Noah ran a hand through his hair, "Well I stopped for gas a couple of times, and when a guy's gotta go. . ."

"Didn't you even stop to eat?"

Noah shrugged, "I bought snacks when I stopped for gas".

"Noah" Rachel sighed, "you must be starving, do you want me to get you something to eat, there's takeout in the fridge"

"No" he told her, "I just want to fall asleep with my girl in my arms" Rachel smiled as Noah pulled her towards him, "but we're not meeting your dads until 11, set your alarm for 9.30 and we'll christen your flat then."

"Okay" Rachel smiled before leading Noah to the bedroom. She was in the bathroom when he called her name "Yeah"

"Have you looked in the back pocket of your laptop bag recently?" Rachel frowned and moved to lean on the door frame to the bedroom, smiling at how cute Noah looked tucked up in the duvet, his eyes already half closed.

"No, why?"

"Just wondered" Noah yawned, "you might want to that's all"

Rachel walked over to the desk and opened the back pocket of her laptop case. It was empty except for a small white envelope, her name written on the front in Noah's untidy scrawl. She opened the envelope and pulled out a note and a small package wrapped in gold tissue paper, a red apple charm which she hung beside the graduation cap on her bracelet before unfolding the note. _'I guess you're really a little Berry in the big apple, but you're my favourite Berry and I couldn't find a charm of you, so I got you this, a little apple to remind you of your time in the big apple. I love you and I am so proud of you, always have been always will be. N x' _


	4. A Star For A Star

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

Quick question, do Noah's Mom & sister have names in the show? They appear in a couple of other chapters I've written and I don't want to keep calling them 'Mrs Puckerman' & 'Noah's sister' if they have names!

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><p><strong>Chapter 4 - A Star For A Star<br>**

It had been eight short months since Rachel and Noah had moved to New York, they'd settled in well and, as usual Rachel was coming top of all her college classes, some days Noah hardly saw his girlfriend as she was so busy with extra classes and dance practices. He didn't mind though, Rachel was happy and seeing Rachel happy made Noah happy.

Noah had spent the first two months searching and applying for jobs, he was glad that Hiram and Leroy were paying the rent for the apartment as he got almost no replies from his applications. Rachel had caught him looking at the NYPD website one night and encouraged him to apply. He'd been convinced that his stint in juvie would mean he wouldn't be accepted, but thanks to Rachel's obsessive googling they discovered that only sentences of more than one year would make him ineligible, so with the help and support of Rachel, his mother and both Rachel's fathers Noah applied for, and was accepted onto a police training course.

Noah had been the perfect gentleman when Rachel had been given the lead role in the college musical, he'd taken her out for dinner to celebrate and made sure he was available whenever possible to read through the script with her and help her learn her lines. When the time came for dress rehearsals to begin and Rachel started getting home well after nine pm he made sure that there was always a hot meal on the table for her which was always followed by a warm bubble bath, once she'd finished in the bath Noah carried her through to the bedroom before laying her on the bed and massaging her feet, her shoulders, her back, which ever part of her body was aching today. Rachel didn't know how she would have coped without Noah, he even made her her dinner each morning and they both knew that if it wasn't for him, she'd probably come in at night, crawl straight into bed and leave again the next morning without eating a thing.

As the opening night drew closer rehearsals began to last longer. Noah had been expecting Rachel home later than usual, but hadn't expected it to be almost midnight when she came through the door, her eyes half shut she stumbled wearily into the hall table before falling asleep the second she sat down on the sofa. Noah rang the college the next day and found out that the cast had a thirty minute break in the evening, usually beginning at around seven. This was how their new routine was born, and it became so normal that no one batted an eyelid when Noah arrived at rehearsals, waiting until their break before taking Rachel in his arms and making her sit down and eat whatever meal he'd bought with him that day. He'd then stay for the rest of the rehearsal to drive Rachel home safely.

"You're so sweet it makes me want to puke" the male lead told Rachel one day as he caught her glancing at Noah throughout rehearsals. Noah had been a bit apprehensive about Rachel having to kiss another guy in the play, but once he'd gotten to know the dude, and his boyfriend, he'd relaxed somewhat. "It's a good job I like you" he'd continued, "or I'd be trying to steal him for myself."

Rachel laughed, "I don't think you'd have a chance" she'd told him, and it was true. Noah hadn't even looked at another woman in the time he'd been with Rachel. He didn't need to, she was everything he wanted.

Noah had secured himself front row tickets for every show of the four week run, Rachel had told him it was enough for him to just be there on opening night but he'd refused to listen, what he'd not told Rachel was that he'd booked almost all of the front row for her opening night. He'd arranged for both her fathers and his mother and sister to join him and when Brittany, who was teaching at a New York dance school, had heard the news, she'd begged Santana to go see the performance, and Noah was shocked when he got an angry text from Kurt asking why he hadn't been told Rachel's great news and demanding a ticket for the opening night. If this was how their family and friends reacted when Noah told them Rachel had the lead in the college musical, he feared the day she got the lead on Broadway!

He was a little bit worried when Rachel began applying for other parts, whilst she assured him that none of the other parts she was applying for would start rehearsing until after the college musical had finished Noah still worried that she was doing too much in a short space of time.

He wasn't worried about her opening night though, he knew she'd be amazing and she didn't disappoint. Her face lit up as she searched for Noah in the opening scene, finding him sat as promised in the front row surrounded by the friends and family there to surprise her.

Noah was first to his feet, clapping and cheering as the final note left Rachel's mouth, "that's my girlfriend" he proudly told anyone who would listen.

"How did I do?" Rachel asked, throwing herself into Noah's arms after the show.

"I can't believe you even have to ask that babe. You were awesome"

"Really?"

"Yeah" Noah didn't have time to say anything else before she was pulled away to be congratulated by her fathers, and when Kurt got his hands on Rachel Noah thought he'd lost her for the night.

"I've got one word for you Puckerman" Santana stood beside him, "whipped."

Noah laughed, "you can talk Lopez. Brittany wanted to come see this and here you are, she's got you wrapped around her little finger."

"Do I look like I care Puckerman, I get what I want behind closed doors" she winked as Rachel came back towards them.

"Yeah?" Noah smiled, "well so do I."

Noah spent the rest of his evening by Rachel's side as she introduced him to the rest of the cast even though he already knew most of them from rehearsals. In turn Noah introduced her to some of the friends that he'd convinced to come to the show with their girlfriends who also agreed that she was brilliant.

It was gone midnight by the time they were ready to leave and Rachel was exhausted. She left Noah and her fathers for a moment to collect her belongings from the dressing room

but her face lit up as she noticed her charm bracelet on her table. She had no idea how Noah had got to it, he'd been in the audience for the whole play, she'd spent the whole of the interval in her dressing room alone and she'd been with him ever since the curtain came down but somehow he'd managed to add another charm to her bracelet, and left a small note laying by the gold star charm _'a star for my star. I'm so proud of you. Love you always N x'_


	5. In Flew A Bird

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

I'm going away for the weekend, thought I'd give you another part before I go!

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><p><strong>Chapter 5 - In Flew A Bird.<strong>

Noah remembered the day well, Rachel had called him and screamed down the phone for almost ten minutes before Noah had finally found out why, she'd secured herself a part in a new off Broadway show. It wasn't Broadway, and it wasn't a big role, but she had lines to learn, and it was just one step closer to reaching her dream role, she'd even taken a year out from her studies to take up the role.

It was just three weeks into rehearsal when things went wrong. Rachel walked across the rehearsal room pausing as her vision blurred. She heard people calling her name, but it sounded strange, like her head was under water she felt herself stumble forward and reached out desperately trying to stop herself falling. She braced herself to hit the floor but the world went black seconds before her legs gave way.

Another actor saw her stumble, and was beside her just in time to stop her hitting the floor. Instead he laid her down carefully before checking for her pulse and calling her name repeatedly. He pulled her phone from her pocket as the director rushed over demanding to know what happened as he rang for an ambulance.

Noah was surprised to see Rachel's number flash up on his screen during his lunch break, he knew she didn't break for lunch until later. He almost passed out himself when he was told that Rachel had collapsed during rehearsals and was on her way to hospital.

He drove to the hospital as fast as he could, only to find Rachel lying in bed, her face pale and her eyes closed, "Rachel" he sobbed, falling to his knees beside the bed.

"She's okay" Noah hadn't seen the director sat in the chair beside Rachel's bed, "she came round before the ambulance got to her she was out for less than five minutes. The doctors said it was exhaustion. They were going to give her something to help her sleep for a while but she fell asleep before they had the chance" he explained.

Noah nodded, "thanks for staying with her."

"It's okay, she was asking for you. I'll leave the two of you now, but if you need anything Rachel has my number. I've told her I want her to take at least two weeks off, but if she needs longer than that we can sort something out."

Noah thanked the man again and waited til he was out of the room before climbing into the bed beside Rachel, "don't ever scare me like that again babe".

Rachel was allowed to go home that evening, and Noah had no intention of letting her do anything more strenuous than getting up to use the bathroom. She came down with a fever a couple of days after she passed out and Noah insisted on taking her to the doctor who told her it was probably just coincidence and that she'd be fine after she rested up for a few days. When she was unable to keep down her meals Noah took time off from his classes to look after her. He rang the doctor who told him to bring her in if she couldn't keep anything down after 24 hours. Luckily that evening she was able to eat of bowl of pasta and as she was drinking plenty of fluids Noah began to relax.

He went back to his classes a week after Rachel had passed out, Rachel didn't tell him that she still threw up more meals than she kept down, she was sure that whatever it was would clear up soon enough and she didn't want to worry Noah any more than he was already worrying.

She spoke to the director towards the end of the second week who agreed to give her another week off to completely recover and it was at the beginning of the third week that she went to the doctor alone.

Noah came home three days later to find Rachel curled into a ball on the sofa, tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.

"Rach" he took her in his arms almost instantly, "Rach, what's wrong"

"I went to the doctor" she sobbed, "I didn't want to worry you I'm sorry"

Noah thought the worst, he'd noticed Rachel was still throwing up occasionally and she was constantly tired, "Rachel" his voice quivered as he prepared himself to hear her bad news, to hear her tell him how sick she was.

"He did some tests" she explained, "I got the results today"

"I can't. . ." Noah bit his lip as tears threatened to fall from his eyes, "whatever it is, we'll find a doctor, you'll be okay Rach, I'll quit the course and stay at home to look after you, maybe we should move back to Lima to be with our families, I can't loose you Rach."

Rachel was puzzled for a moment before it hit her, Noah thought she was ill, "No" she whispered, "you don't understand, I'm not ill Noah, I'm pregnant"

Noah pulled back, "you're what?"

Rachel bowed her head, he was angry, of course he was. They were always so careful, she took her pill religiously and they used condoms. She wouldn't be surprised if he thought the baby wasn't his, "I'm pregnant" she repeated, unable to lift her gaze from her lap.

"Oh my God" Noah ran his hand over his face, his jaw dropped wide in shock, "oh my God" He stood to his feet, "oh my God" he pulled Rachel into his arms, "Rachel" she glanced up to see him grinning from ear to ear, "you're sure, we're having a baby?"

Rachel nodded, "The blood test I had on Monday was positive and he tested my urine while I was there earlier, that was positive too."

Noah screwed up his face, "gross".

"He doesn't think I'm very far along, maybe six or seven weeks, but I've got an appointment for an ultrasound in two weeks to confirm everything and give me an idea of when it'll be due." She explained.

"We're having a baby" Noah repeated.

"You're not angry?"

"Angry? Hell no, you're having my baby Rach, that's amazing." He was still stood with Rachel in his arms when he realised she hadn't said whether she wanted to keep the baby or not. The mention of an ultrasound made him think she wasn't going to have an abortion but what if she wanted to have the baby adopted like Quinn had Beth.

"Noah" she lifted his chin, "what's wrong."

"Do you, I mean, are. . ." he took a deep breath, "please tell me you want to keep this baby, I don't think I could give another one away."

"Oh Noah" Rachel wiped at the tears now rolling down his cheeks, "I didn't think about Beth, I'm so sorry, but yes I want to keep this baby. I know it might be a struggle and that Broadway's going to have to wait for a few years" she reached down to lay her hand on her flat stomach, "but I think it will be worth it"

"Thank you" Noah kissed her softly before pulling away, grinning like a child, "Can I tell my ma?"

"Of course you can, but would you ask her to keep it to herself for a while? I'd rather not tell everyone until I'm out of the first trimester, you tell your mom, then I'll ring my fathers and in the morning I'll ring the director and explain that I wont be returning to rehearsals, by the time the show opens I'll be huge" she smiled at the thought.

By the time they were getting ready for bed Noah's face was aching from smiling so much. He was pretty sure his mom had deafened him when he'd told her she was getting the Jewish grandbaby she'd always wanted. She had insisted on speaking to Rachel. Noah had told his mom what had happened between Rachel and Shelby, and the elder woman made it quite clear that if Rachel had any questions about pregnancy or parenthood, or even if she just wanted to chat to someone who knew what it was like, she could ring her at any time, day or night.

Once Noah had been able to get off the phone with his mother, Rachel had called her fathers and whilst they had been shocked at the news they had agreed to support Rachel and Noah however they could.

Noah had slipped out of the apartment unnoticed whilst Rachel was in the bath. She stepped into the bedroom to find a large bottle of cocoa butter on her dressing table, a note propped against the front, '_My ma said we should rub this on your belly and your boobs to stop you getting stretch marks, call me when you've done your belly and I'll help with the rest N x_' She went to pick the bottle up and noticed her charm bracelet wrapped around the top of the bottle. It took her a few seconds to realise why Noah had moved it from where she'd left it beside her bed. She didn't think she'd been in the bath for very long, but it seemed it she been long enough for Noah to go out and buy cocoa butter and place a stork charm on the end of the bracelet. 


	6. I Couldn't Find The Right Charm

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

If you haven't read 'oh the places you go' by Dr Seuss you really should! I think there's a video of the audio book on youtube.

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><p><strong>Chapter 6 - I Couldn't Find The Right Charm<strong>

"Hey babe" Noah grinned as Rachel climbed into the passenger seat of his truck, waiting for her to get settled before leaning over and kissing her cheek, he then bent down to drop a kiss to her slightly swollen stomach, "hey baby".

Rachel was now twenty two weeks and three days pregnant. After she'd told her director she was unable to continue with rehearsals he'd wished her all the best and promised her he'd keep her in mind for any future productions. She'd then made an appointment to see one of her college professors and asked if there was any way she could continue with the course she'd planned to take a year away from. Rachel was an excellent student and after some deliberation, her professors agreed that she could rejoin the course. Catching up was hard, pregnancy was taking its toll on Rachel and several times Noah came home to find her sleeping at the kitchen table, text books and notes surrounding her, but she soon caught up on the seven weeks of work she'd missed. She was however thankful that her professors were understanding of her situation and agreed to extend essay deadlines when necessary.

She was glad that she and Noah now had a two week vacation, a week of which they planned to spend in Lima with their family and friends and the second week they planned to spend turning the tiny second bedroom in their apartment into a nursery. But first they had to visit the hospital to find out whether they needed to paint the nursery blue or pink.

"I've been thinking about names" Noah told Rachel as they sat side by side in the waiting room.

"Yeah?" Rachel asked softly, "what have you been thinking?"

"Feel free to say no, but my Ma always said that she wanted to name me after her dad, but my dad said no, then when he left she was going to use it for my sister but obviously she was a girl. I just thought it might be cool to use it for our bug if they're a boy, but if you don't like it then that's fine."

Rachel smiled at Noah's nickname for their unborn child. At Rachel's first scan he'd announced that it didn't look like a baby, it looked like a weird insect and so instead of just referring to 'the baby' Noah and Rachel began referring to the child in her stomach as bug. "You need to tell me the name so I can tell you if I like it" she smiled.

"Kaleb" Noah sounded unsure of himself, "with a K not a C"

"Kaleb" Rachel repeated quietly before running her hand over her stomach, "Kaleb Nathaniel Puckerman."

"Nathaniel?" Noah asked.

"Yeah, I've been looking at names myself, it's Hebrew for gift of god, and that's what they are, the doctors said the chances of us conceiving whilst using condoms and the birth control pill were slim to none, but we still got our bug, I thought it was appropriate."

Noah smiled, "would you mind calling him Kaleb?"

Rachel shook her head, "after everything your Mom's done for us both it's the least we can do, I mean if she'd not have packed up your bags and convinced you to come to New York we wouldn't be having the baby would we?"

"What if we're having a pink bug?" Noah asked.

"I quite like Suri" Rachel admitted, "I know it's what Tom Cruise and Katy Holmes called their daughter, but it's a Hebrew name so it would keep your Mom happy, and it means princess and we both know that's what she's going to be."

"I like Abigail" Noah told Rachel.

"Father's joy" Rachel smiled, she'd spent a lot of time looking for the perfect name for her daughter.

"Yeah" he sighed, "I don't think I've ever been happier than when you told me you were pregnant."

Rachel smiled and kissed Noah before laying her head on his shoulder until her name was called.

They arrived in Lima the next afternoon, Rachel had wanted to drive straight through the night, but Noah had insisted on booking a motel room so Rachel could get some proper rest.

"So, so?" Rachel and Noah were ambushed by their parents the second they stepped out of the truck.

"Hey" Noah slung his arm around Rachel, "Let her get into the house first."

"So?" Mrs Puckerman asked again once they were settled in the Berry's living room, "are you going to keep us waiting forever?"

"We're having a boy" Rachel smiled, her hands moving to her stomach as both her fathers and Noah's mother grabbed her for a hug.

"Have you thought about a name?" Hiram asked.

Rachel looked to Noah and nodded, "Yeah" he told them, "I chose his first name, Rachel chose his middle name."

"Oh" Mrs Puckerman's face fell, "not Jack Daniels."

"No" Noah laughed thinking back to when he'd tried to convince Quinn to call their baby Jackie, "We'd like to call him Kaleb" he looked to his mother, "if that's okay with you? Kaleb Nathaniel Puckerman."

"Oh Noah" Puck was pulled into his Mom's arms as tears ran down her face, "your grandfather would be so proud, of course you can call him Kaleb"

Rachel was convinced that shopping for the nursery was the hardest thing about being pregnant, her daddy had insisted on taking her shopping whilst she was in Ohio, and naturally Mrs Puckerman and Noah's sister had tagged along too. "I don't want everything to be blue, and I don't want animals"

She'd cried herself to sleep in Noah's arms that night, convinced that their son would have an ugly nursery, all the nursery sets she'd seen that day had been either blue or adorned with animals, jungle animals, farmyard animals, Rachel had even turned up her nose at a brown and green blanket with bugs on.

Noah woke Rachel up at 8.30 the next morning. "I wanted to say bye" he told her kissing her lips softly.

"Where are you going?" she asked sleepily.

"New York. I'm driving back up with your dad now, and your daddy's going to bring you back in a couple of days." he explained.

"Why" Rachel tried to get out of he bed but Noah wouldn't let her.

"Me and Leroy are going to get the nurser sorted so you don't have to worry about a thing. By the time you come home it will all be done, I'm kinda worried that the smell of the paint's gonna make you barf. This way you wont have to smell it."

Rachel smiled and relaxed into the pillows, "no blue" she reminded him, "and no animals."

"I know" Noah smiled kissing Rachel again, "I love you and I'll call you later. Take care babe" he grinned as he left the room.

"Right" Noah sighed as he walked into New York's largest baby store, "we need something for a boy, no blue, no animals" he told Leroy before they split up to try and find something suitable.

It was Noah that found it, and straight away he knew it was perfect. The bedding was blue but the accessories weren't completely blue, and he was already planning how he could paint the walls. He grinned as he sent a text to Leroy telling him where he was before beginning to fill his basket.

"What have you found then?" Leroy asked.

"Oh the places you'll go" Noah grinned, and he could tell by the look on Leroy s face that he agreed it was perfect.

Noah remembered Hiram telling him how much Rachel had loved Dr Seuss as a child, how he and Leroy had to read one of his books to her every night before bed, but the first time she was read 'oh the places you'll go' it became her favourite. Leroy said it was at least six months before he and Hiram were allowed to read her anything else and he was pretty sure he could still recite it with his eyes closed!

"Now" Noah told Rachel as she stood in front of the closed nursery door, "before you go in I want to warn you that the bedding and some other stuff is blue, but I think you'll like it." Rachel nodded and Noah placed his hands lightly over her eyes before pushing her into the room. "Open" he grinned, taking his hands from over her eyes.

Rachel was silent as she took in the room in front of her. Noah had left the walls cream but had painted a ribbon in the colours from the front of the book that swooped from by the door, up the long wall of the room before dancing over the ceiling. The crib stood on the short wall opposite the door and the words 'oh the places you'll go' were painted in green above the crib beside an image of the balloon featured in the books illustrations. Four more balloons hung from a mobile over the crib and random quotes from the book adorned the longest walls of the room. Rachel was surprised at how much Noah had managed to fit into the small room, there was a wardrobe beside the door and a dresser by the cot, and whilst Noah was right, there was a lot of blue, not only the bedding but the mobile, the clothes hamper and the diaper stacker were mainly blue too, the room was perfect. The pastel colours were bright enough to be noticeable but soft enough to be soothing.

"Noah" Rachel gasped as tears rolled silently down her cheeks.

"Oh babe" Noah pulled her into him, "if you don't like it I can repaint it, I know you said no blue but I just thought. . ." he shrugged

"I love it Noah, it's perfect."

Noah heaved a sigh of relief, "I'm glad you like it, and I know you loved Dr Seuss when you were younger, so I got some other stuff for Kaleb."

It was then Rachel noticed the shelf over the dresser filled with books, and when Noah opened the top drawer of the dresser it was full of Dr Seuss bibs, burp cloths and onsies, there was even a cat in the hat changing bag sat in the bottom of the wardrobe.

Rachel laid on the sofa that night her head in Noah's lap, her feet over Hiram's legs as they all watched tv. Rachel groaned in protest when Noah asked her to move so that he could get a drink, but she still moved tto sit up beside her daddy, her head resting on his shoulder as she drew patterns over the tiny bump of her stomach.

"Rach" Noah sighed as he came to sit back beside her, "I want to talk to you about something, but I want you to let me finish before you say anything"

"Okay" she smiled.

"I've been thinking about this for a while" he began, "and I don't want to be your boyfriend anymore".Rachel felt her eyes fill with tears and her hands instinctively went to her stomach as she thought about bringing their son up on her own, she opened her mouth to say something but didn't have chance. "No" Noah held his hand up, "you said you'd hear me out so let me finish. It's not that don't want to be your boyfriend anymore, it's more that I don't want you to be my girlfriend. I want you to be my wife, so erm" He dropped to the floor in front of her and reached into his pocket, "will you marry me Rach?" For the first time in her life Rachel Berry was speechless. "Don't leave me hanging babe."

Rachel sniffed loudly and failed to stop tears spilling from her eyes as she nodded slowly, "yes" she whispered, "yes, yes, yes, yes yes."

"I think it's a yes" Hiram told Leroy as Noah slipped the engagement ring onto Rachel's finger.

"Perfect" Noah smiled as he kissed Rachel's finger, "and you'll be wanting this too." He passed her a second ring box identical to the first. "I couldn't find the right charm, but I thought cos it's a celebration and you can't really have any of the real stuff. . ."

Rachel smiled as Noah attached the champagne bottle to her bracelet, "it's perfect Noah, just like everything else you've done for Kaleb and I." She kissed Noah as he moved back to sit beside her on the sofa and they both agreed that at this moment in time everything was indeed perfect.

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><p><strong>AN 2 - **I've had a couple of ideas that would bring Beth into the story, but I wanted to see how people felt about bringing her in before I wrote it. Would you like me to bring Beth and/or Shelby into the story or would you prefer it if I kept the focus on Rachel & Puck (and Kaleb of course). Let me know what you'd like (Beth, Shelby, Beth and Shelby or neither)**  
><strong>


	7. And K Makes 3

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

This is the last chapter I had pre-written & I'm sort of out of ideas (I don't really want the wedding to happen straight after aleb's born) I'm still toying with the Beth idea I had, but the majority of people said they'd like Shelby & Beth (the idea I had was just Beth) or to leave it with just Noah, Rachel & Kaleb. In short, if anyone has any ideas/suggestions I would be extremley greatful!

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><p><strong>Chapter 7 - And K Makes Three<strong>

"Are you sure you're okay babe?" Noah watched Rachel push herself from the sofa, she was 4 days overdue and even the simplest of movements were getting difficult, she'd laid on her back for less than thirty seconds a couple of days ago and was convinced she now knew how whales felt when they got washed up onto the beach.

"I'm fine" she snapped.

"Okay okay" Noah held his hands up in surrender, Rachel had been really cranky for the past few days but he reasoned he wouldn't be jumping for joy if he had to carry a large heavy wriggling beach ball his gut, "where are you going?"

Rachel picked up her bag and paused to rub the small of her back, "I've got a class at two."

Noah frowned, "you can't seriously be thinking about going to class Rachel, you were due to give birth four days ago, I'm sure they won't mind if you don't go in."

"I'm going in Noah, now you can either drive me there or I can get the subway." She paused to take a deep breath and rub her stomach.

"I'll drive you" he said slowly, "are you sure you're okay Rach, you're not like having contractions or anything?"

Rachel shook her head, "he's just a little active this morning, making his momma need to pee constantly." she dumped her bag and walked to the bathroom, "I'll be two minutes".

Reluctantly Noah dropped Rachel off at college. Her class was only an hour long so he told her he'd wait in the car and take her home again afterwards, he'd sold his truck a few months ago when Rachel became so big he had to lift her into it. He sent a text to Leroy, Hiram and his mom while he was waiting for Rachel. _'I think something might be happening with the baby. Rachel says she's fine but you might want to start making your way up_'.

His mother rang almost instantly asking Noah what made him think that the Kaleb would be here soon. He explained how restless Rachel had been in the night, how she'd tossed and turned constantly whilst mumbling in her sleep. He told his mom how he'd found Rachel pacing the bathroom that morning as she told him how nauseous she felt, and how she kept stopping what she was doing to rub at her back or her stomach. She'd almost constantly felt the need to rub at her stomach when Kaleb was kicking, but only over the last couple of days had she stopped mid sentence to do it.

Mrs Puckerman agreed with her son and promised that she would speak with Rachel's fathers and they would be on their way as soon as possible.

Noah must have dozed off while he was waiting for Rachel and he woke to find her shuffling in the passenger seat, "come on Kaleb" she spoke softly to her stomach, "give momma a break."

"Hey" Noah mumbled as he woke, "have you been here long?"

Rachel shook her head, "just a couple of minutes."

"Are you giving Ima trouble already little guy?" He reached over to lay his hand on Rachel's stomach, "Woah, calm down little one" he gasped when he felt an almighty kick. "God Rach, I don't know how you put up with it."

She sighed, "I guess I'm used to it by now, I think you just got an elbow."

"It'll all be over soon though" Noah tried to reassure her, Rachel had seen her doctor just two days ago and she had promised that if Kaleb wasn't here by the end of the week Rachel would be induced.

"I know" Rachel shifted in her seat, "I don't want to worry you, but I think you were right earlier. I don't think I'm in labour as such, but I don't feel right. Maybe I should call your Mom when we get in."

"I already called her, she's on her way with your dads, and she said she had a lot of backache when she was having my sister apparently rocking on all fours helped her." Rachel nodded, still rubbing at her stomach, "do you want to go to the hospital?"

Rachel shook her head, "can we just go home?"

"Sure thing babe" Noah kissed Rachel softly before fastening her seatbelt for her and driving them home.

Noah spent the rest of the evening alternating between running warm baths for Rachel and laying on the bed with her, rubbing her back or just holding her in his arms. Not long after they'd arrived home Rachel had laid in the bath with Noah behind her rubbing her stomach. It was there that she admitted how scared she was of giving birth, how scared she was that having never had a mother herself was going to affect her ability to be a mother to Kaleb. Noah had kissed her neck and tried to reassure her. He'd told her that while she'd never had a mother, she had had two loving fathers, and he'd never had a decent father but he'd had a great mom, so between them they should be able to do a fairly decent job at bringing up their son.

It was as Rachel stood from her fourth bath of the night that she yelped loudly and was glad Noah was there to stop her slipping, "that one was a lot worse" she told him once the pain had finally passed. Up until then the pain she'd been experiencing was more annoying and irritating than anything else, but it had all changed now.

"I'm going to ring the hospital" Noah told her, "see when they want you to go in".

"No" Rachel reached out and grabbed him, "please don't leave me. They said to wait until they were five minutes apart, please"

Noah saw the fear in Rachel's eyes so he nodded slowly, helping Rachel from the bath and wrapping her in a large towel. Rachel suggested watching a movie but spent most of the time pacing the room, only pausing when she had a contraction, or when things got too much for her and she needed Noah to hold her and tell her it was going to be okay.

It was just after midnight when Rachel's fathers and Noah's mother arrived. Rachel had fallen asleep shortly before they arrived so Noah set up the sofa bed for the Berry men and showed his mom to the tiny second bedroom where a camp bed had been set up by the crib before he climbed into bed himself.

Rachel woke a little after three am, her contractions were back and stronger than before but she didn't wake Noah. She was surprised to find her dad sat in the kitchen, "Hey Rach" he greeted her as she poured herself a glass of water, "how are you doing?"

"They're worse than they were bef-oh" Rachel gasped as she felt Kaleb shift inside her just seconds before she found herself stood in a pool of water, "dad"

Leroy could tell Rachel was terrified, "it's okay Rach, let me wake everyone up and we'll get you to the hospital, I think Kaleb's ready to say hello."

It was almost twenty hours later when Kaleb finally made an entrance. Rachel had demanded through her contractions that no one touched Kaleb before Noah held him unless they absolutely had to and instantly fell in love with the a photo Noah's mom took of Noah gazing at the tiny bundle in his arms, Kaleb's big brown eyes staring right back up at his father, all five of Kaleb's tiny fingers gripped around Noah's much larger index finger.

Noah fell in love with Kaleb instantly, he was the tiniest person Noah had ever seen, even smaller than Beth, but he was so perfect, "Happy Birthday Bug" Noah whispered before kissing his son and passing him to Rachel.

"Oh" Rachel began to sob the second she set eyes on her son which in turn caused Kaleb to wail too. "Oh baby" Rachel rocked him gently, "I know, it's been a hard day for me too" she ran a finger gently over his cheek, "but you're here now, we're okay, you're okay, it's okay". Noah remembered Rachel turning to him with tears in her eyes, "we did it Noah, look what we did."

Noah smiled and kissed Rachel's damp forehead he could tell she was completely exhausted, "No babe, you did it. You bought this little guy into the world, I'm so proud of you Rach, you were amazing." Rachel was too tired to argue and simply dropped her head back against the pillows as the nurses took Kaleb over to the side of the room to clean him off and check him over. "So" Noah took Rachel's hand in his, "I got you this" he grinned reaching into his pocket and pulling out a tiny blue package. Rachel unwrapped it with shaking fingers to find a silver K in the same style as the R and the N she already had, an extra reminder of the day Rachel and Noah stopped being a couple and became a family.


	8. One More Makes Four

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

I've started writing the wedding chapter and I'm really excited about it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 8 - One More Makes Four<strong>

If you asked Noah, he'd tell you that Kaleb was awesome, he was completely in love with the little guy, and he was convinced that having Kaleb was the best thing he'd done in his life, second only to admitting how he felt about Rachel. Rachel loved watching Noah with Kaleb, Noah was so big and Kaleb was so tiny that she felt her heart melt every time she saw her fiancé cradling her son protectively against his chest. She knew Noah was made to be a father and she couldn't wait for the day Kaleb had a whole ensemble of younger brothers and sisters to protect. Both of them agreed that although they didn't plan to have Kaleb, they wouldn't change a thing but neither of them knew their happy family of three wouldn't last very long.

They'd spent the day in the park but were now curled on the sofa, Rachel laid against Noah's chest with Kaleb in her arms. Noah noticed Kaleb's limbs jerking occasionally telling him that his son was struggling to walk the fine line between being asleep and being awake and from where he sat he could see Rachel's eyes flutter closed only to snap open every time Kaleb flinched before slowly closing once he was settled again.

Only when he was convinced Rachel and Kaleb were finally asleep did Noah allow his own eyes to shut, to be rudely awoken just moments later by the phone which was conveniently just out of his reach. He managed to quickly slide out from under Rachel and grabbed the phone before Rachel and Kaleb woke.

"Who was that?" Rachel asked sleepily as she sat up, her hand on Kaleb's back held him tightly to her chest. "Noah" she took in the shocked look on his face and laid Kaleb in his buggy by the door before walking over to Noah. "Noah, what's wrong?"

"It was, it's, oh god Rachel"

"Noah" Rachel reached out to lay her hand on Noah's arm, "Noah, you're scaring me"

"Rachel" Noah felt tears forming in her eyes, "I don't know how to..." He ran a hand over his head. "That was Shelby's solicitor on the phone, there was a car accident Rachel, I'm sorry babe, your mom, she didn't make it."

"She...what?" Rachel's face paled and she staggered backwards. It was only Noah's strong arms that stopped her falling to the floor, instead Noah guided her to the sofa where he sat beside her, holding her tightly as she cried into him.

"That's not, Rachel, there was a reason the solicitor called here. She Erm" Noah paused, not sure how to break the news to Rachel, "Shelby had a will, it said that if anything happened to her she wanted me and Quinn to have the chance to be become Beth's guardians."

"Right".

"Obviously they can't get hold of Quinn" Rachel nodded, Quinn had just left for a three week trip around Europe, "so they wondered if we'd take her in" Noah didn't give Rachel a chance to speak, "I want to do this Rachel, I've already given her up once, I can't give up the chance to see her grow up again, and I don't think I could choose between my children."

Rachel nodded, "I wouldn't make you Noah, Beth can stay here for the time being."

"For the time being?"

"Yeah, She can stay until Quinn comes back from Europe, but I want us to talk it through with her before we decide anything permanent, she's Beth's biological mother, it's only fair she has a say in what happens to Beth".

"Okay" Noah knew Rachel was right, "I'll ring the solicitor back, see what we've got to do next." Rachel nodded silently beside him. "Are you okay babe" he knew it was a stupid question. "Rach" he sighed, "I really don't know what to say to you, do you want me to call your dads or my mom or something?"

Rachel shook her head, "I just, I can't get my head around it, she wasn't my Mom, she gave me away when I was born, she pushed me away when I was 15, that's why, I mean, I wouldn't be the one to make you do that to Beth. She didn't want me but I wanted her". Rachel's tears turned into full blown sobs, her shoulders heaving as she clung to Noah's shirt.

"Oh babe" Noah stroked her back and kissed her hair as she gasped for breath, "you need to calm down babe, take some deep breaths".

It took a while but Noah finally managed to calm Rachel down, "go and ring the solicitor, find out how Beth is, we should go visit her if she's in the hospital. I'm going to check on Kaleb."

Noah was on the phone with various people for almost an hour. He found Rachel laid on the bed, her body curled around Kaleb as tears rolled silently down her cheeks. "What did they say?" She asked quietly her eyes not leaving the baby beside her.

"She wasn't hurt, well, she's got some cuts and bruises but other than that, y'know. I had to ring the social worker, she's been taken to an" he shrugged, "an orphanage or whatever they call them while they find her foster parents. I told them to bring her over tonight, is that okay?"

Rachel nodded, "We'll move Kaleb in here and set up the camp bed in his room for her. I guess if she ends up staying with us permanently we'll have to look for somewhere bigger."

Noah nodded, "are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Absolutely. I'd like to think that if anything happened to us, one of our friends or our families would step up and take care of Kaleb, it would be hypocritical of me to expect that and then turn Beth away. I've called my fathers" she admitted, "they said that they will support us however they can, and they're going to call my childhood therapist, see if she can recommend someone out here for Beth."

Noah nodded, he could tell Rachel was trying to avoid talking about how she was feeling and he didn't push her, he trusted she would open up to him if and when she was ready. "I'm gonna move Kaleb's stuff. The social worker said she'd be here in about an hour."

"An hour? You mean?"

Noah nodded sadly, "Shelby and Beth were in New York".

Rachel sighed and sniffed slightly before reaching for the tissues, wiping at her eyes and blowing her nose. "Can you watch Kaleb" she asked Noah as he carried a bag of Kaleb's things into the room. "I want to shower before Beth gets here, I won't be long."

Noah nodded, he guessed that Rachel wanted to put on her show face before Beth arrived. "Take as long as you need babe" he told her before kissing her softly and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ears, "me and the bug will be fine".

"Hey, you must be Beth" Rachel spoke softly as she crouched down to greet the young girl stood in the door way, "I'm Rachel and that's Noah" she gestured to where Noah was talking to the social worker, "do you want to come sit down?". Beth said nothing but followed Rachel into the living room. "Do you want to take your coat off?" Rachel asked. Beth shook her head as she sat nervously on the edge of the sofa, a tatty pink rabbit clutched tightly in her hands. Rachel noted an angry gash above her left eyebrow and her eyes rimmed red with tears were the only signs that anything out of the ordinary had happened today. "Are you hungry?" Rachel asked, Beth shook her head. "Would you like a drink?" Rachel was surprised when Beth nodded slowly. "Okay" Rachel smiled, "we've got Apple juice, orange juice, milk or water, "we can go shopping tomorrow to pick out some more things you like".

"Apple juice please" Beth answered Rachel so quietly she almost didn't hear the young girl.

"Okay, I'll be right back".

Rachel returned to find Beth sat cross legged on the sofa, her shoes placed neatly on the floor and her rabbit on the seat beside her. She gave Beth the juice before sitting down beside her and waiting for Noah to join them. "Oh Beth" Rachel sighed as she saw tears rolling silently down the young girl's face.

"I want my Mommy" Beth sobbed as Rachel pulled her to sit on her lap, "but the doctor man said she's not never coming back again". Rachel said nothing but continued to rock the smaller girl, occasionally dropping a kiss to her hair, "did she go away because I was bad?" Beth asked, "cos I'll be good, I promise I'll be good."

"It's not your fault" Rachel promised trying desperately to stop her own tears from falling, "sometimes people have to go away, your Mommy got hurt real bad in the accident Beth, she had to go away forever to stop it hurting."

Rachel and Beth sat in silence until Noah came back into the room, "Everything's sorted" he told them, "you're going to stay with us for a while" Noah told Beth, "is everything okay?" he turned his attention to Rachel.

"Yeah" she nodded, "Beth's just missing her Mommy".

Before Noah could reply they were interrupted by Kaleb's loud wail, "I'll go." he said as he pulled himself from the sofa, "you girls stay here."

"Have you got a baby?" Beth asked quietly.

Rachel nodded, "yeah, his name's Kaleb and he's probably hungry right now, you could give him his bottle if you like?"

Beth's face lit up, "can I, can I really?"

"Of course you can" Rachel smiled, happy to see Beth excited about something, "I just need to warm it up, I won't be long".

"I think the little guy's hungry" Noah said as he walked back into the living room with Kaleb in his arms.

"Beth's all ready to give him his bottle" Rachel smiled.

Noah was surprised that Beth would be feeding the baby but tried not to let it show, "Okay then" he sat Kaleb on her lap and moved some of the cushions to help her support him, "there we go" Noah laid the burp cloth under Kaleb's chin before retreating to the bedroom for the camera, snapping away happily as Rachel helped Beth to give Kaleb his bottle.

It was only once Beth was sleeping that Noah allowed himself to finally get a good look at the girl. "She's so beautiful Rach"

"Of course she is" Rachel nodded, "you've met her birth parents, what did you expect?" Noah smiled, he knew exactly what he'd expected, a miniature Quinn, Rachel had too, so they'd both been surprised when they'd come face to face with a girl who may have looked like her mother but had definitely inherited her father's dark brown hair and eyes. Rachel only hoped that was all she'd inherited from Noah, God help Beth if she'd got Noah's attitude too.

The next few weeks passed quickly and Noah and Rachel were both relieved that Beth slowly began to come out of her shell, it was obvious that she missed Shelby terribly, but she was starting to feel more at home in the apartment. It was for that reason that Noah was terrified of ringing Quinn, he'd only just got used to having Beth around again and he hated the fact Quinn might take her away again.

"Thank you for consulting me" Quinn spoke politely after Noah explained the situation., "I would like to meet her, but I'm still not ready to be a mother. I'd be happy for you and Rachel to have full custody of her if that's okay with the two of you? She's already lost one mother, I'd hate to be the one to pull her away from your family when she's just beginning to settle in."

Noah understood completely, "thank you. I think Beth might really need a cool Auntie Quinn, someone to turn too when Rachel's being a diva and I'm being an overprotective father."

"I think I can do that" Quinn smiled into the phone, "and you'll bring her to Cali soon?"

"As soon as we get a passport for Kaleb" Noah promised.

It took several long months, multiple trips to a family court and what seemed like hundreds of visits from a social worker but finally the last papers were signed and Rachel and Noah were legally Beth's guardians and they could begin to plan their future without having to worry about Beth being taken from them.

"I'm going to go and get us takeout for dinner" Noah told Rachel as she laid on her bed beside a sleeping Kaleb, "Beth's watching tv I won't be long."

"Okay" Rachel smiled meeting Noah in the doorway to kiss his lips softly, "I'm just going to hop in the shower, I'll see you soon."

Noah kissed her again, "love you."

Rachel smiled "love you too".

Noah returned just half an hour later to find Rachel had managed to bath Beth as well as shower herself while he'd been gone and were now snuggled together under a blanket on the sofa. "I got pizza for me and Beth and that vegan Chilli you like Rach." Noah placed several boxes of food on the table and Rachel's eyes were instantly drawn to the box on the top of the pile, it was much smaller than all the other boxes and the blue velvet covering gave away it's contents almost immediately.

"I think I know what it is" Rachel smiled as Noah passed her the box.

"Open it and see if you're right." He grinned as he sat Beth at the table and began to open the food.

"Thank you Noah" Rachel smiled, kissing him softly before hanging the charm from her bracelet, a silver B to mark the day Kaleb got a big sister.


	9. Plane and Simple

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

Someone asked how old Beth was, in my head she's about 4 or 5 but an old 4 or a young 5 if that makes sense?

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><p><strong>Chapter 9 - Plane and simple<strong>

Rachel sighed and fidgeted in her seat, she didn't usually mind flying and she was really looking forward to catching up with Quinn but she was dreading taking Kaleb on the 6 hour flight. Luckily the family had been given a row of four bulkhead seats in the middle of the plane, Rachel had fed Kaleb the second they'd found their seats before strapping him into his car seat and now as the plane taxied along the runway she could see his eyes drooping and she hoped he'd sleep his way to California. "Are you okay?" she asked Beth as they prepared to take off.

Beth nodded, "I'm a bit scared" she confessed.

"It's okay" Rachel wrapped her arm around the small girl, "you've been on a plane before haven't you?"

Beth nodded, "only with my Mommy"

"That's okay" Rachel smiled, "Noah and I won't let anything bad happen to you" she promised.

"Hey Babe" They were three hours into their flight when Noah lifted a sleeping Beth from her seat beside Rachel before sitting down himself and holding Beth on his knee. "I feel like we're miles apart" he joked even though there were only two seats between him and Rachel it still felt like too far. "That one looks nice." He gestured to the estate agent's brochure Rachel was currently looking at. "Where is it?"

"New York" Rachel sighed. Once Rachel and Noah had legal custody of Beth the rest of Shelby's Will had been read, she'd left a three bedroom house in New York and a large amount of money from her life insurance policy to whoever took on her daughter. After a long discussion Rachel and Noah had decided to sell Shelby's house and buy one of their own, the only problem was that Rachel wasn't sure that she wanted to stay in New York any more.

"Babe" Noah kissed Rachel's cheek, "if you want to go back to Ohio we can go back to Ohio it's not a problem."

"I don't want Kaleb and Beth to be Lima loosers."

"We don't have to go back to Lima, we could move to Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus Akron, Cincinnati, hell it's not Ohio but I bet we could drive to your parents from Indianapolis in about three hours if we didn't hit traffic. It's only four hours to Chicago, that's closer than New York."

"What about your training?"

"Don't worry about it, I've already looked into it I can transfer to another training course without too much hassle. What about college?"

Rachel shrugged and lowered her gaze from Noah's, "Since I had Kaleb I've been having doubts about going back." She admitted, "you know what it's like when were rehearsing for a show, I can leave the apartment at 7am and not be back until midnight I don't want to be that kind of mother to Kaleb or Beth."

"If you're sure?"

Rachel nodded, "I am Noah"

"We'd certainly get a lot more for our money in Ohio."

"Yeah we would" Rachel agreed.

"We could get a few extra bedrooms" Noah smiled seductively, stroking his hand over Rachel's flat stomach, "have our own show choir. But on a more serous note I was thinking if we did choose to buy something in Ohio we could maybe buy a second place and rent it out, it would earn us some cash and then Beth would have her own place when she's old enough."

"Would you mind moving back to Ohio?"

"Babe I'd move to the moon if it meant you were happy. We can start looking at houses in Ohio as soon as we get back" he smiled kissing Rachel again before settling back in his seat, Beth still sleeping on his lap.

"You're sat in my seat" Beth mumbled into Noah's chest, rubbing at her eyes as she woke.

"I just wanted to sit next to Rachel for a while".

"Did you kiss?"

"Maybe just a little bit" Noah grinned beginning to tickle Beth slightly.

"No" Beth giggled, "No Noah, please don't". Noah was forced to stop tickling Beth when Kaleb woke with a wail. "Hey sleepy bug." He passed Beth over to Rachel so he could unstrap Kaleb from his seat so he didn't become '**that**' screaming baby everyone hated.

"Hey" Beth covered her eyes with her hands, "where's Kaleb gone?" She pretended to look around the plane, "Kaleb, where are you?" She paused for a moment before pulling her hand from her eyes, "boo!". She noticed Kaleb had quietened somewhat and quickly covered her eyes again, "Oh no" she gasped, "Kaleb's gone again. Where is he?" She heard Kaleb giggle and once again pulled her hands from her eyes, "boo!"

Rachel smiled and kissed Beth's head, she loved how easily Beth had taken to being Kaleb's big sister and it was obvious that Kaleb adored the attention Beth constantly gave to him. She remembered the first time she realised how much of a comfort Kaleb could be for Beth. She'd picked Beth up from school to find her eyes red and filled with unshed tears, her cheeks still damp from the tears she'd already cried. Beth didn't speak to Rachel as they drove home and she curled herself into a ball on the sofa once they arrived back at the apartment. "Bad day hey?" Rachel asked softly as she sat beside Beth and began running her fingers through the young girl's hair. Beth nodded into the cushion her face was buried in. "Want to talk about it?" Rachel asked. Beth shook her head. "Do you want to cuddle with Kaleb?" Beth lifted her head from the pillow, making eye contact for the first time since she'd left school she nodded slowly. "Okay." Rachel smiled, "give me a minute. She decided that the floor would be the safest place for Beth to cuddle Kaleb without her constant watch but she knew it wouldn't be comfortable so she took the duvet from both her bed and Beth's, folding her duvet in half before placing Beth's on top and then taking the pillows from both beds and the sofa, arranging them on the living room floor before settling Kaleb into the pillows, covering him loosely with a blanket and gesturing for Beth to lie beside him under the blanket. "I'll be in my room if you want me" Rachel told Beth, kissing both her and Kaleb before leaving the room.

She'd checked on them ten minutes later to find Beth curled tightly into Kaleb, her cheeks wet with tears as the usually noisy baby laid quietly beside her, her index and middle fingers grasped tightly in his fist it was almost like he knew Beth needed him to comfort her.

"Do you love me?" Beth asked quietly as she walked slowly into Rachel's bedroom, Rachel had left the door wide open so Beth knew she was welcome to go in if she wanted to.

"Of course I love you Beth" Rachel quickly pulled the girl onto her lap and hugged her tightly, "you shouldn't need to ask that."

"My friend Tegan said you and Noah don't love me and I only live with you because I have to and you love Kaleb more than me."

"Baby" Rachel wiped at Beth's tears, "if Tegan said that then she's not your friend. But Noah and I love you exactly the same as we love Kaleb and we always will do, it doesn't matter what you do or how angry or sad you get, Noah and I will always love you."

"Did you have to let me live here?" Beth asked quietly as she began to play with the hem of Rachel's shirt.

"No" Rachel told her truthfully, "after Mommy went to heaven someone rang us and told us what had happened and said they needed someone to look after you. We told them to bring you here and we told them that because we wanted you to come live with us, If we didn't want you we'd never have let you come live here, the only reason you live with us is because we love you and we want you to be part of this family. We're not going to send you away if that's what you're worried about. "

"Promise?"

Rachel nodded, "I promise Beth. We're probably all going to move to a new house soon so that Kaleb can have his own bedroom too, but you'll be coming with us, we want you to be able to have a big girl room and not have to sleep in Kaleb's nursery."

"Can it be blue?" Beth asked beginning to cheer up slightly.

Rachel smiled and kissed Beth's forehead, "baby it can be any colour you want it to be."

Kaleb's fingers grabbing at her arm pulled Rachel from her daydream. "Hey Bug" she somehow managed to hold him on her lap beside Beth.

"I think he needs changing" Noah told her, "I need to grab the changing bag" he gestured to the overhead locker "then I'll go do it."

"Okay" Rachel smiled waiting until Noah had the changing bag before passing Kaleb back to him.

The morning after the flight they collected their hire car and drove out to Quinn's apartment. Quinn froze as she saw Beth, she couldn't believe that the young girl in front of her was the baby she gave away almost five years ago. Part of her hated that she'd missed out on her life, but at the same time she knew she'd made the right decision to give her away, there was no way Quinn could have given her the life she deserved.

"Quinn" Rachel flung herself at Quinn, during their last year in high school Quinn and Rachel had slowly become friends, and she'd been there to answer all of the silly little pregnancy questions she'd been too embarrassed to ask Noah's mom.

Noah came up behind Rachel, "gonna let anyone else say hello?"

"Oh, where are my manners?" Rachel finally let go of Quinn, "Quinn, this is Beth" she gestured to the girl now clutching tightly to Noah's free hand. "Beth" Rachel crouched down to Beth's height, "this is our friend Quinn, do you remember we said we were going to come see her." Beth nodded shyly. "Are you going to say hello?"

"Hi" Beth whispered.

"Hey" Quinn smiled, "I've heard a lot about you."

"That's Kaleb" Beth pointed to the baby grizzling into Noah's shoulder, "I think he's my brother now."

"Oh my god Rachel, he's adorable" Quinn gasped, "you must be so proud of him.

"I think he's hungry" Noah announced as Kaleb began to chew on his shoulder.

"Puck" it was as if Quinn had only just realised Noah was there and she threw her arms around him causing Kaleb to whine. "Come in" Quinn gestured the family further into her apartment, "make yourself at home, can I get you anything?"

Rachel knew Quinn and Beth would get along but she'd never imagined just how well. It took a while for Beth to move from where she sat between Rachel and Noah but she was soon laughing and joking with Quinn on the floor of the apartment, the two curled into each other as they watched New Directions performing at Nationals in their senior year. Rachel couldn't help but smile when Beth and Quinn began singing along before Beth turned and asked Noah and Rachel to join them. Even Kaleb babbled along tunelessly.

"You're doing an amazing job" Quinn told Rachel as the two women prepared dinner later that evening. "I'm so glad she went to the two of you" Quinn glanced into the living area where Puck sat beside Beth, the young girl curled into his side, Kaleb on his father's lap as Puck read to them both, occasionally making Beth giggle with a silly voice. "I knew you'd make a great Mom. You're just, I don't know, it's like you were made to be a mom."

Rachel smiled, "thank you. And I'm sure that when the time is right you too will make a great mom. You've been great with Kaleb and Beth today."

"She's a great kid" Quinn smiled. "If it's okay with you I'd like to make this a more regular thing. I could come to New York next time". Quinn saw Rachel's expression change, "I mean if you'd rather I didn't then that's okay, I mean you probably don't want me pushing my way into your family, I understand."

"No, Quinn" Rachel was quick to correct her, "to me you'll always be Beth's mother and I would never stop you seeing her, I'd just hate for you to have a wasted trip to New York. Noah and I have been talking about moving back to Ohio" she clarified.

"Oh right"

"Yeah" Rachel nodded, the two bedroomed apartment isn't really great, Kaleb's nursery was fine for him but we've had to move him in with us. Noah can't even get in his side of the bed because we've had to push it against the wall and we can just get so much more for our money in Ohio, we haven't decided where yet, but we know it won't be Lima."

Quinn nodded in agreement. " You've got a family now, you need a house with a garden for them to play in. But what about college, Broadway?"

Rachel shrugged "I think for now I'd rather be a mom. College and Broadway will still be there when Kaleb and Beth are stroppy teenagers and I need to escape".

Noah and Rachel spent an enjoyable weekend with Quinn and their children. They were surprised at how quickly Beth had come out of her shell, she usually took a while to warm to new people but by Saturday morning Beth was like Quinn's second shadow. On a trip to the zoo she skipped along happily in front of Noah and Rachel, holding tightly to Quinn's hand as the blonde read out the information sheets at each enclosure they reached. They came to the first monkey enclosure and Beth let her hand slip from Quinn's and she ran back over to Rachel and Noah, "Look Kaleb, they're monkeys like you" she grinned, reaching into the buggy to tickle the infant before leaving him giggling to himself and going back to join Quinn.

"I had a really good time" Beth smiled throwing her arms around Quinn as Rachel and Noah waited by the hire car, "Rachel says I can see you again soon?"

Quinn nodded, "when you've all moved into your new house I'll come visit you, but I'll call you and we can talk on the internet okay? "

Beth's face lit up and she hugged Quinn tighter, "Will you be my best friend?" she asked quietly.

"Of course I will" Quinn thought her face was going to explode from smiling too much, "you be good for Rachel and Noah and I'll speak to you real soon." Quinn kissed Beth again before letting her go back to Rachel and Noah. Although it broke her heart to see Beth leave she knew she'd be seeing her again and after meeting the child for the first time she was absolutely convinced she'd made the right decision, not only in giving Beth to Shelby, but also allowing her to stay with Noah and Rachel, Beth was happy and she was so obviously loved and that was all Quinn wanted for the child.

Noah and Rachel had given Quinn space to say her goodbyes to Beth, Rachel leant against Noah as he leaned against the car. "I got you something" he whispered in her ear after kissing her neck, "I was going to wait til we made it safely back to New York, but I think the fact that we made it here in one piece deserves celebration, I was surprised how simple it was. He reached into his back pocket. "I love you babe" he kissed her again before handing her the next charm for her bracelet, a small plane to remind her of the first trip they took as a family.

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><p><strong>AN 2:** I've started writing the wedding chapter (I think it's probably going to be chapter 11, 12 at the latest) but it seems to have taken on a life of it's own so I wanted to ask your opinion, would you like, a long wedding chapter (5000 words at least) for the wedding chapter to be split into two parts (would you like Puck to give Rachel a charm in each chapter in keeping with the story) or would you rather I did some major editing and cut the part down to the size of the other chapters?


	10. It's Not Just Three Circles

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

I'm so sorry for the delay, I'm going to try and have the next chapter up within a fortnight.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10 - It's Not Just Three Circles<strong>

"Are we going home now?" Beth asked as Quinn's apartment block disappeared over the horizon.

"Well" Noah grinned at Rachel, "I thought you might like to have a little vacation while we were in California, what do you think?"

Beth smiled, "at the beach?" she asked excitedly?

"Not quite baby" Noah smiled, "there's a place we thought you might like more than the beach."

"Oh" Beth frowned, "where?"

Noah frowned, "I've forgotten what it's called, can you remember Rach?"

"Oh" Rachel pretended to think, "I think there's a brochure in here" she rummaged in the glove box of the hire car. "Disneyworld that's it."

"Disney!" Beth shrieked from the back seat, Kaleb too joining in with the squealing even though he was far too young to understand why Beth was so excited, "for reals?"

"For reals" Rachel smiled, her fathers had paid for a week in Disney for the young family. They thought after all the bad things Beth had been through recently it might be nice if she could replace some of the bad memories with good ones. Rachel and Noah knew one of them would spend a lot of time waiting outside rides with Kaleb but it would be worth it to see Beth smile. "The page that has the corner turned down is the hotel we're staying at." Rachel explained as she passed the brochure back to Beth.

"Look Kaleb" Beth grinned showing him the brochure, "we're going to Disney. No Kaleb don't drool on it."

Beth fell asleep with the brochure clutched tightly in her arms and Noah left Rachel, Kaleb and Beth in the car while he checked them into the hotel and took their bags up to their room, he then returned to the car and lifted Beth from her seat without waking her and carried her to their room as Rachel did the same with Kaleb. "Are we at Disney?" Beth's eyes flew open as Noah laid her in the middle of one of the two king size beds.

"We're at the hotel" he told her, "but we're all going to have a nap before we do anything, Kaleb's asleep and even me and Rach are going to lie down for a while."

Beth yawned and stretched out, "this beds huge."

Noah smiled, "and it's all yours."

Beth frowned, "will you and Rachel lie with me?"

"Sure thing." Noah slipped off his shoes and Beth moved over to give him room to lie beside her, "Rachel's in the bathroom" he saw Beth look round the room before nodding and yawning again.

Once Rachel climbed in beside Beth it took the young girl a matter of minutes to fall back into a peaceful slumber, Noah reached over to kiss Rachel's cheek and as usual waited until he was sure she was asleep before he allowed himself to drift off. During his teenage years Noah had easily been able to sleep for over 12 hours at a time and his mother had always said he'd probably sleep through an earthquake but ever since Rachel had told him he was pregnant he woke at even the slightest of noises.

It was almost two and a half hours later when Kaleb woke with a yawn and a wail and Noah was quick to jump from the bed, lifting him from the cot and bouncing him on his hip as he tried to settle him before Rachel and Beth woke. Kaleb laid his head on his father's shoulder and rubbed at his tired eyes before tipping his head and smiling at Noah. "Hey bug." he kissed his son's temple and moved to sit on the empty bed with Kaleb, Beth had snuggled closer into Rachel's chest and he decided to let them sleep for another half an hour before he woke them. "What are we going to do while they sleep hey?" Noah asked as he tickled his son's stomach he saw a notepad and pen by the phone and quickly scribbled a note for Rachel, '_taken Kaleb exploring, ring me if you wake up, love you x' _ He made sure he had his phone and the room key in his pocket before he picked up Kaleb's changing bag and left the room. He returned first to the car to fetch Kaleb's buggy before he began walking around the large hotel.

Rachel woke as she heard the door to the room open, "Hey" she mumbled sleepily, "where have you been?"

Noah pushed Kaleb's buggy into the room, "I didn't want Kaleb to wake you so we went exploring after he woke up, we found the restaurant and the pool and then we found an indoor play area and I nearly lost him in the ball pool" Noah grinned as he lifted Kaleb from his buggy and passed him to Rachel.

"Have you had fun with Daddy?" she asked bouncing Kaleb on her hip as he babbled loudly, "shall we wake Bethy up Kaleb?" she sat on the side of the bed and placed Kaleb beside Beth, "go on" she encouraged, "give her kisses, wake her up."

"Eww, Kaleb" both Rachel and Noah laughed as Kaleb placed his hands on Beth's shoulders and leant forward placing a slobbery kiss on her cheek to wake her up.

"That's enough bug" Noah scooped Kaleb from the bed as Rachel shook Beth's shoulders.

Beth shook her head and wiped her hand over her cheek, "m'sleepy" she mumbled before her eyes flew open and she sat up in bed, "are we at Disney?"

"We are indeed" Rachel smiled, "so how about we get you changed and go see what we can find."

"Yeah" Beth grinned as she flew from the bed.

Once they entered the park Beth wanted to see everything at once, they reached the castle in the middle of the park and Beth froze as her tiny eyes took in the size of the building in front of her, "Bee?" Noah caught up with her, "are you okay?"

Beth nodded, "it's so beautiful."

They finally convinced Beth to walk through the castle and into Fantasyland, "where do you want to go first?" Rachel asked, she and Noah had researched the park on the internet and they knew that this was where most of the rides suitable for Beth, and Kaleb, were situated.

"That." She pointed to the large carousel in front of her, "I want to go on a horsey."

They walked towards the queue and Rachel pulled a sling from underneath the buggy before she unstrapped Kaleb from his seat. "Do you want to ride with me or Noah?"

"Erm" Beth looked between Rachel and Noah, "can I ride with you?"

"Of course" Rachel smiled as she passed the sling to Noah, waiting for him to adjust the straps before she helped him slide Kaleb into position.

"Come on bug" he kissed Kaleb's sun hat covered head, "let's find a manly horse."

"Beth?" Noah crouched down as he noticed the tears rolling silently down the young girl's face as they watched the afternoon parade, "what's wrong baby?"

Beth's tears turned into shoulder heaving sobs as she flung herself into Noah's open arms, "I, miss, my, Mommy." She sobbed into his chest.

"Oh Beebee" Noah sighed as he lifted her onto his hip, "I wish I could make it better for you, I really wish I could."

"My heart hurts real bad." She told him.

"I know it does, I know." He kissed her head and rubbed her back, "do you want to go back to the hotel and have some quiet time?" He knew that Beth's meltdowns had become less frequent but the best cure was settling her somewhere quiet and comfortable and showering her with cuddles and reassurances.

"I want to stay and watch the palade."

Noah smiled at her mispronunciation, "Okay Bee" he took the tissue Rachel was offering him and wiped at Beth's tears, "let's dry those eyes so you can see all the pretty things, and then..." He swung her up to sit on his shoulders, "you get the best seat in the house."

"Shouldn't take a kid that young away from her parents, Disney or no Disney, poor kid." Noah turned as he heard the man beside him mumble to his wife.

"I beg your pardon." Noah's voice was dangerously low.

"Look, no offence but she's what, 3, 4? She should be with her Mom, in fact I can't believe her mother would let you bring her on vacation." He shrugged not realising how angry he was making Noah.

Noah lifted Beth from his shoulders and stood her beside Rachel, "not that it is ANY of your business" Noah spat, "but she was in a car accident a few months ago, the same accident that killed her mother, and for your information her mother not only trusted us to take her on vacation but she trusted us to raise her." He let out a long breath, "now if you don't mind my family would like to get on with their vacation. He turned to Beth who had tears in her eyes once again, "come on Rach, Bee, we'll see the parade tomorrow, hopefully without any jerks spoiling it for us."

Noah took Beth's hand and lead her into the nearest ride, luckily they'd already been on it once and both Beth and Kaleb had loved it, they'd been fascinated by the singing dolls dressed in traditional costumes from various countries and Noah knew they'd be riding 'it's a small world' several times during the next week.

"That man wasn't very nice" Beth whispered, squeezing Noah's hand as they waited in the short queue.

"I know" Noah lifted her to sit on his hip, "some people don't understand though, when they see us they think that me and Rach are your mommy and daddy but it's okay that we're not" he was quick to reassure her, "there are lots of boys and girls that don't live with their mommys and daddys for a lot of reasons, that doesn't mean that the grown ups they do live with, and their mommys and daddys love them any less, you know me, Rach and Kaleb love you right?" Beth nodded into Noah's neck, "good" he kissed her cheek, "look B" he tried to change the subject, "we're riding in the pink boat."

"Rachel" Beth mumbled sleepily from where she sat on Noah's shoulders as they left the park that evening.

"Yeah?" Rachel was just as tired as she pushed Kaleb towards the park exit.

"Can our new house be at Disneyworld?"

Rachel smiled, "I'm afraid not baby, we want to be closer to Ohio not further away but we've got another 6 days here"

"That's good" Beth smiled sleepily, "I like it here."

The rest of the holiday went smoothly, the young family spent a couple of hours in the parks in the morning meeting characters and going on rides before returning to the hotel for lunch, a nap and a swim in the pool before returning to the park later in the afternoon once the harsh midday sun had died down somewhat.

"Can I get a toy to take home?"Beth asked as they passed the large Disney shop nestled amongst the restaurants as they walked back towards the buses that would take them back to their hotel.

"We can't take a lot of things on the plane" Noah explained, "so we're going to get you a princess dress and then you have fifty dollars to spend on anything you like."

Beth struggled to chose between a blue Cinderella dress and a Princess Jasmine outfit, she eventually chose the dress but as Rachel took her to pay for the outfit and accessories Noah snuck off to another checkout to buy the Princess Jasmine outfit, arranging for it to be delivered to the hotel so he could collect it once she was asleep. It would make a perfect Christmas present.

Beth changed into the dress almost immediately and wore it for the rest of the holiday, however she wanted to look in every shop before she decided what she wanted to spend her fifty dollars on. "Can we go in there?" Beth asked pointing to a shop she'd not been in yet.

"I'll wait here with Kaleb" Rachel told Beth and Noah, "I think the little guy's getting hungry."

"How much is that?" Beth asked, peering into a glass cabinet inside the shop.

Noah frowned, "Forty nine dollars and ninety five cents"

"So it's less than fifty dollars?"

"Yeah."

"I want to get that."

"But Beth. . ."

"You said I could get anything" Beth cut him off, "and I want to get that for Mo-Rachel's pretty bracelet." Beth had asked if she had to call Rachel and Noah Mommy and Daddy when she first moved in. They'd said she could call them whatever she wanted and she'd stuck with Rachel and Noah but occasionally slipped up and called them Mommy and Daddy. Rachel said it was probably a sign she felt like she was part of the family but Noah couldn't help but grin every time she called him Daddy.

"But that's all your money Bee, you wont be able to get anything else."

"Don't you like it?" Beth's face fell.

"I do Beth, but I think Rachel would rather you spent the money on something for yourself."

"Please Noah."

He couldn't say no to her, "how about you only use some of your money and I pay the rest, then Rachel can have that and you'll still be able to get something for yourself.

Beth thought for a minute before agreeing to the compromise, "okay, and it can be from me and you and Kaleb?"

"Sure thing." Noah took his wallet and Beth's Minnie Mouse purse from the pocket of his jeans. He took five dollars from Beth's purse and forty five from his own wallet, "here" he handed Beth the cash, "go tell them what you want." He waited while Beth was distracted at the counter and slipped a five dollar note into Beth's purse.

They left the shop a while later, Beth held a small gift bag in her hand as she skipped towards Rachel and Kaleb who was now sleeping in his buggy, "did you get something?"

"Yeah" Beth smiled knowingly up at Noah, "I gots Minnie Mouse and a jigsaw and a pink cup and plate and bowl. Noah got Kaleb a blue cup and plate and bowl too but he says we have to pick them up in the hotel so we don't have to carry them on the rides."

"Oh" Rachel smiled, "I can't wait to see them when we get back to the hotel, what have you got in the bag?"

Beth smile grew as she knelt on the bench beside Rachel, "it's for you" she handed the bag over, "from me and Noah and Kaleb."

"Oh Beth" Rachel sighed as she opened the bag, "you didn't have to get me anything".

"It's for your pretty bracelet." Beth told her as she opened the small box.

"And it's not just three circles" Noah rolled his eyes.

"Of course not" Rachel smiled, "it's Mickey Mouse."

"Do you like it?" Beth asked, her eyes wide with excitement.

"I love it" Rachel leant over and kissed Beth, "I'll put it on my bracelet as soon as we get back to the hotel."


	11. A House Is Not A Home

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

I know it's been more than a fortnight but I've changed internet providers & didn't have the internet for a while.

The next chater's the wedding so it might take me a while longer to post because I want it to be perfect!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11 - A House Is Not A Home<br>**

"What about this one?" Noah passed the leaflet across the table to Rachel.

She shook her head, "the third bedroom was tiny,it was no bigger than the second bedroom in New York."

Rachel and Noah were now officially homeless. The lease on their flat in New York had run out and they'd not renewed it, instead the young family had packed up their belongings and moved in with Hiram and Leroy Berry. Rachel and Noah had the money to buy a house, they'd sold the property Shelby had left them in New York and they had the payout from her life insurance but they were struggling to find a place they could call home. Noah had left his police training course which meant that almost every day he drove Rachel, and sometimes Kaleb and Beth, to another city to spend the day looking at houses. It had been three long weeks and Rachel was beginning to think they'd never find a home.

"This one?" Noah picked up another information leaflet and Rachel instantly shook her head and frowned.

"I don't know which house this picture is of" she took the flyer from his hand, "but the property I saw had a large hole in the roof, I'll not mention the lack of floorboards or interior walls. I don't know what the estate agent was thinking. We told them we wanted something we could move straight into. Is that too much to ask Noah? I mean I don't mind having to redecorate, new carpets, I mean I wouldn't really mind if we had to replace the kitchen and bathrooms. At least three decent sized bedrooms and a garden for Beth and Kaleb, is that too much to ask Noah? Am I being too demanding?"

"No, of course you're not babe." He saw the tears form in her eyes and reached out to take her hand in his, "that was a really shit house Rach, I mean we told them we had two young children and they show us a house with stairs missing in the staircase. I want us to have a nice place too, but we might have to compromise, I mean get an okay place while we look for our dream home. I know your dads say they're okay with us being here but the six of us in one house, it's a bit crowded."

"I know, I hate knowing that Kaleb probably wakes them he wakes for his feed."

"We're going to Cincinnati tomorrow. Maybe we'll find our dream home there, but let's get back to Columbus, we might find a couple of maybes." He rummaged through the pile, "this one was okay, the bedrooms were a good size and there was a good space outside for Kaleb and Beth."

"It was okay" Rachel sighed, "but the third bedroom was an attic room right?" Noah nodded, "we couldn't put Kaleb up there, so would we risk putting Beth up there and have her up and down that ladder every time she has a bad dream or needs to use the bathroom or would we go up there and have one of us running up and down every time Kaleb wakes or Beth needs one of us for something?"

"I guess it's not really practical, maybe we should tell them we want at least 4 bedrooms, then we'll be good if one is a cupboard under the stairs or something."

"Yeah" Rachel nodded in agreement, "let's see what we get shown tomorrow."

She yawned and Noah straightened the papers on the kitchen table. "C'mon" he walked around the table and pulled Rachel into his arms, holding her tightly and kissing her softly, "let's go to bed."

Rachel and Noah woke early the next morning in Rachel's childhood bedroom, "morning beautiful" Noah grinned cheekily before he rolled on top of Rachel and kissed her passionately, "I heard your daddy get up with Kaleb and Beth about an hour ago" he winked at her before trailing a hand down her side and underneath the hem of the Titans shirt she'd stolen from him.

"Noah" Rachel giggled before pushing him back onto his own side of the bed, "whilst you know I enjoy being intimate with you I don't feel comfortable doing it when there is a chance my fathers could interrupt us. And I need to shower now if we don't want to be late."

"Spoil sport." Noah sighed as Rachel pulled herself from the bed.

Less than an hour later they were in the car heading for Cincinnati, luckily Rachel's daddy had the day off and was able to watch Kaleb and Beth for them. As much as Rachel loved her children, a long day looking at houses seemed three times longer when she had the children to entertain.

"Mr and Mrs Puckerman" the estate agent greeted them with a firm handshake and a bright smile as they entered the office.

"Not quite" Rachel corrected, "we're not married yet, please call us Rachel and Noah."

"I'm so sorry" the estate agent, who had introduced herself as Erin, blushed.

"Don't worry about it" Rachel smiled taking a seat beside Noah opposite Erin.

"Okay" Erin smiled, "I had you meet me here so we could go through a couple of properties, I'll tell you all you need to know, if you like the property we'll go view it, if you don't we'll find something else and we won't have a wasted day driving round properties you're not interested in." Rachel and Noah smiled at each other. It was already good. "You said you have young children?" Erin asked.

Rachel nodded, "Beth has just turned five and Kaleb is almost a year old."

"And would you say you want a property that has room for your family to grow?"

"Big enough for a football team." Noah answered confidently.

Erin smiled, "Actually I do think we've got a small hotel on our books" she laughed before asking, "and you said you wanted a house you could move straight into."

"Yeah" Rachel nodded, "we don't mind decorating but we don't want to be doing anything major."

"Okay, I've picked a few properties that I think you might like. I'll take these ones out" she took a few papers from the pile and pushed them into her drawer, "because they've only got three bedrooms, so here we go." She placed the first information sheet on the desk facing Rachel and Noah, "it's five bedrooms and it's recently had a new kitchen and new bathroom suites fitted. It's on three stories as you can see, there's a large kitchen diner, a utility room, two reception rooms and a washroom on the ground floor. On the first floor there's the master bedroom with an ensuite, the family bathroom and two other bedrooms. Then there are two more bedrooms on the third floor and a small, we say bathroom but there's no bath" Erin laughed a little, "it's a bathroom that only has a toilet a sink and a shower."

"How do you get to the third floor?" Noah asked.

"Up the staircase" Erin frowned slightly, confused by what he meant.

"Is it a proper staircase?"

"Yes" Erin nodded, "it's a continuation of the staircase from the ground floor to the first floor."

"Okay" Noah nodded, "one of the places we looked at in Columbus had an attic room but you had to climb up a ladder to get there."

"Oh no, no, this is a staircase, if you turn to the third page there should be a picture of the staircase" she told the couple before turning back to her own information sheet, "there's a large front porch and the back garden is all grass apart from some wooden decking that you can access from the kitchen diner."

"Is the yard enclosed?" Rachel asked.

Erin nodded, "it's completely fenced in. You can only get into the back yard through the kitchen or the utility room."

"Is there like a driveway or do we have to park on the street?" Noah asked.

"There's a single car garage and a driveway big enough for a second car. The current owners have been using the basement for storage but if you wanted to turn it into another living area, maybe a playroom for your children, all that it needs is plaster on the walls and some extra lighting and of course you'd have to decorate and put some flooring down, its just concrete at the moment but it shouldn't be a difficult job."

Erin continued telling them about the house, she even had information on the local schools, before telling them about four other properties, one more with five bedrooms and three with four bedrooms. It took a while but Noah and Rachel finally narrowed the choices down to three houses that they most wanted to view. "Oh Noah it looks perfect" Rachel's eyes lit up as they stepped out of the car outside the first property

"Yeah" he took her hand in his, "fingers crossed it's okay inside."

Erin gave Rachel and Noah a quick tour of the home before leaving them to have a better look on their own, "oh hello dears" Rachel and Noah were met in the kitchen by an elderly lady, "what do you think of this old place?"

"It's perfect" Rachel smiled, "I love the size of the kitchen, some of the newer properties we've seen are tiny."

"It's a big house" the woman agreed, "that's why we're selling, we've raised six children here but they've all flown the nest" she explained, "I'd like it to go to another family who will love it just as much as we do." She looked at Rachel and Noah's intertwined hands, "do you have children?"

"Yeah" Noah answered, "A five year old daughter and a son who's almost one."

"Are you looking for your first family home?"

Rachel nodded, "we lived in a rented apartment in New York but both our families are in Lima, we decided we wanted to be closer to them without actually being on their doorstep" she explained.

The woman nodded and smiled, "this was our first family home, we've been here for 54 years, we'll be sorry to let her go, but there's just the two of us now, me and my husband and it seems stupid to have such a big house, we've got six children, fourteen grand children and two great grandchildren but they rarely spend the night and I struggle with the stairs what with my hip." She shook her head, "a two bedroomed one story place, that's what we need now" she smiled again, "anyway I better leave you two to explore, I'll be in the back yard chatting with Erin if you want to ask me any questions" she shook both their hands before leaving them in the kitchen,

"Do you think that'll be us in fifty years time?" Rachel asked as Noah wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I dunno babe. Don't think I'm ever gonna let my kids out of my sight" he told her, "so I doubt we'd be here on our own."

Rachel laughed, "I really like it Noah, I can see us being happy here, there's room for us if we do decide to have more children Kaleb and Beth won't be forced to share and until we have more children there's room for my fathers and your mom if they both come over at the same time, we won't have to put your mom on the camp bed and my dads on the sofa, I mean there's even room for your sister if she wants to stay for the weekend."

Noah smiled, "do you want to see the other places or do you just want to put an offer in on this one?"

"What do you want to do"

Noah shrugged, "I'll be honest babe, my perfect house is the one you're happiest in. I know you like this one, and you're right, I could imagine us living here, we could do something pretty awesome in the basement, like a studio for you or something, you could give private voice lessons or something, I dunno, if you'd be happy living here for the next fifty years then we should put an offer in. Or we could go see the other places then put an offer in on this place, whatever you want."

Rachel took a deep breath, "I want to live here Noah."

"Daddy" Rachel couldn't keep the grin off her face as she spoke to her father on the phone, "we just bought a house. I mean obviously there's a lot of things that need to be done before it's legally ours but we put in an offer and it's been accepted."

It took several weeks before Rachel and Noah were able to move into their home. "It's huge" Beth exclaimed as she ran through the empty house, "where's my bedroom? Have I got my own bedroom? Has Kaleb got his own bedroom?" Beth was so excited Noah and Rachel couldn't help but smile.

"Come with me" Rachel shifted Kaleb on her hip so she could hold out a hand towards Beth. Beth took Rachel's outstretched hand and allowed Rachel to lead her upstairs, "this is where Noah and I will be sleeping" she lead Beth first into the master bedroom before taking her back into the hallway, "there are two more bedrooms on this level, one for you and one for Kaleb" Rachel explained, "and a bathroom for the two of you to share when Kaleb's bigger, but because you're the oldest we thought you could choose which room you wanted."

"Really?"

Rachel nodded, "really, so why don't you go look which room you want so Noah can get your bed set up ready for tonight."

"I think I want this one" Beth told them as she stood in the bedroom furthest from Rachel and Noah's room which was slightly smaller than the other, "then if Kaleb cries you can get to him quicker 'cos you'll be right next door."

Rachel smiled, "that's very kind of you".

"It's a bit boring though." Beth sighed taking in the plain cream walls.

"I know baby, we need to unpack all our things this weekend but once we're settled, maybe next weekend we can go out and you can choose some paint or some wallpaper for your room. You can help us choose something for Kaleb's room too."

Beth's face lit up, "when I'm real big, like when I'm seven, can I have a bedroom upstairs?"

Rachel laughed and kissed Beth's hair, "we'll see."

Hiram and Leroy arrived almost an hour after Rachel and Noah, and agreed to help Noah put the furniture together while Rachel took Kaleb and Noah out to explore the neighbourhood. "Look Rachel, a park." Beth tugged on Rachel's arm as they walked along a road about ten minutes from the new house.

Rachel smiled, "do you want to play for a bit?" Beth nodded and Rachel lead her towards the playground, "you can play for twenty minutes but then we need to find the store."

It was almost two hours later that Rachel returned home, they'd found the store and bought enough food to last for the couple of days and they'd found a hardware store and picked up a couple of paint charts so Beth could choose the paint she wanted for her room, as far as Rachel and Noah were concerned the rest of the house could wait, they just wanted Kaleb and Beth's rooms to be perfect. "Everything okay?" Noah asked, kissing Rachel as she walked into the house.

"We found a park Noah, Rachel let me play for a while, then we went to two different stores but one didn't sell food and Rachel got some paper with colours on so I can pick what colour I want for in my bedroom. Do you think you could do Kaleb's room like his one in New York? It was real pretty but he never really got to sleep in it because I moved into his room and he went in your room." Noah and Rachel rolled their eyes, Beth was so excited about the new house they knew they'd struggle to get her to sleep later on.

"I'm sure we can" Noah smiled, "now how about we go up to your room and you tell me and Leroy where you want your bed and your wardrobe to go."

After a long afternoon moving boxes and unpacking the essentials the family ordered Chinese takeout for their first meal in their new home, and as they waited for their food Rachel put Kaleb to bed in his own room for the first time since he was just a few weeks old. "Sweet dreams Bug" she whispered, brushing his dark hair from his face and kissing his forehead, his hair was getting long, she needed to find a hairdresser for him. "You're growing up too fast Bug" she said slightly sternly, "can you just stay small a little bit longer please" she kissed him again before making her way downstairs. She didn't join her family in the living room, instead walking through into the kitchen, taking several deep breaths to calm herself she poured a glass of water before leaning against the sideboard.

"Babe?" Noah had heard Rachel come downstairs and had gone to find her when she'd not joined him in the living room. He took her in his arms the second he saw the tears pooling in her eyes, "Babe what's wrong?"

"I, I don't know, I'm so happy Noah but Kaleb, his hair is in his eyes and he's growing out of his dinosaur onsie. I love you, I love Kaleb and I love Beth but sometimes it doesn't seem real. We own our own home Noah, once my fathers are gone it's going to be me and you and our children in the house that we own." She paused and wiped at her eyes, "sometimes I feel like a kid playing make believe. I just guess I'm having a hard time believing this is all real." She looked up at him, expecting him to laugh at her, tell her she was stupid.

"Oh Rach" he did giggle slightly but he tightened his grip on her, "it is a bit crazy, I mean the Puckasaraus has bought a home with his family, it's a big step, but you know what makes it easier?" Rachel shook her head, "What makes it easier is knowing is knowing that I've got a kick ass son and an amazing daughter and in a couple of months I'm going to be marrying the most beautiful girl to ever have come from Lima Ohio. We've just got to play at being grown ups for a while, we'll get used to it soon enough" he grinned.

"It just doesn't seem real" she mumbled into his chest.

"Believe me babe, if this is a dream I don't ever want to wake up."

They were interrupted by the food delivery and rejoined Hiram, Leroy and Beth in the living room, they'd yet to put the dining table together they sat on the sofa using several boxes as a makeshift table. "Okay Missy" Noah lifted Beth onto his hip after she'd finished eating, "Rachel's gone to find a towel and then it's time for your bath and bed."

Beth frowned, "what about Kaleb?" If there was one thing Beth hated it was going to bed while Kaleb was still awake.

"Look around Bee" Noah watched as Beth scanned the room, "can you see the little guy?" Beth shook her head, "Rachel put him to bed when we were waiting for the food."

"Oh."

"Oh indeed" Noah tickled her sides, "so let's get you upstairs and ready to sleep in your new room."

"Hey" Rachel smiled as she curled into Noah's side on the sofa later that night, Beth and Kaleb were finally sleeping and Rachel's fathers had retired to one of the upstairs bedrooms where they'd set up the air bed they'd jokingly bought Rachel and Noah as a moving in present.

"Well hello Beautiful" Noah leant over and kissed Rachel. They sat in silence for a while watching the tv that had been temporarily set up on a bedside table in the living room, "so" he broke the silence a while later, "we've got a whole new house" he winked seductively.

"Yeah, we have" Rachel giggled as Noah moved to kiss her neck, "but don't you think we should go upstairs?"

"Nah, we've got plenty of time for that later."

"You asleep babe?" Noah asked a while later.

"Almost" Rachel yawned.

"I've got something for you" he told her as he ran his fingers through her hair, "but you're gonna have to get up so I can get it."

"I'm comfy" Rachel protested from where she laid with her head on Noah's chest, wrapping her arms tightly around his middle to stop him moving, "you'll never find anything anyway. It's a good job dad and daddy are taking Kaleb and Beth out tomorrow so we can unpack properly."

"Yeah" he smiled, playing absent-mindedly with Rachel's hair, something he knew would probably send her to sleep, "how about I take you up to bed, then I get you your gift, I'll find it" he told her, "I know exactly where I put it."

"Carry me" Rachel mumbled lazily.

"It's a good job I love you" Noah laughed, slipping from underneath Rachel before lifting her easily into his arms, "do I need to read you a story and tuck you in?"

"Shut up." Rachel hit Noah playfully as he lowered her into her bed.

"Don't go anywhere." He returned a few minutes later, "see" he said proudly, "I told you I'd find it, I put it in the box with. . ." he trailed off as he saw Rachel wrapped in the thick duvet sleeping soundly. "God I love you" he smiled as he placed the box beside the bed and kissed her cheek, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Rachel woke the next morning to the smell of pancakes and the sound of laughter drifting up the stairs and she smiled happily as she stretched in the now empty bed. This was a life she could get used to, she'd always dreamed of a house full of happy memories and laughter, she wanted her children to have the same loving childhood she'd had and it looked like things were already off to a good start.

She yawned and stretched again before reaching to pick her phone up from the floor by the bed and frowned when her fingers brushed against something she didn't recognise. Rachel rolled onto her side and smiled as she saw the familiar velvet box and an envelope with her name scribbled on the front. She opened the envelope first to find a 'welcome to your new home' card, Noah had scribbled a message inside the card, _'Welcome to our home babe, I know I've been doing it for a while but I can't wait to wake up beside you every morning in our own home. I love you N x' _She smiled at the sentiment before opening the box, a tiny silver house to mark the day they found home.


	12. With This Ring I Thee Wed

**Charmed - **The entire history of Rachel and Puck's relationship can be retold just from the charms on a simple silver bracelet.

**Rating **- T

**Characters - **Rachel & Puck

**A/N -**Reviews/concrit are loved, as are suggestions as to what you want to see happen. And I'm from the UK, so if anything American is not quite right, please let me know and I'll fix it.

So here it is, the long awaited wedding. It's been written and rewritten more times than I can remember so I hope this is okay

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><p><strong>Chapter 12- With this ring I thee wed<strong>

Rachel and Noah felt like they'd barley finished unpacking boxes before they had to pack up their suitcases for a trip back to Lima, a trip from which Rachel and Noah planned to return as Mr and Mrs Puckerman.

They spent the night they arrived in Lima at Rachel's father's house but Noah packed his bag again the next night, the night before the wedding. He didn't care about seeing Rachel before the wedding, he didn't believe that spending the night together would bring bad luck but Rachel did which is why he was taking Kaleb to Finn's where they would spend the night with the rest of the glee club who were to be ushers and groomsmen at the wedding.

"Are you going away forever?" Beth asked as she saw Noah zip his bag shut.

Noah put down his bag and knelt down in front of Beth, "of course I'm not baby, I'm only going to be away tonight, you'll see me at the wedding tomorrow". Rachel and Noah hadn't spent a night apart since they were in high school, and to be honest he was dreading it. He knew Rachel would be okay though, in little under half an hour the rest of the glee girls, and Kurt, and Noah's mother and sister descended on the Berry's living room, even Hiram and Leroy were moving out of their house and into a hotel before they were suffocated by excited females

"You promise I'll see you tomorrow?" Beth asked and Noah nodded, "Pinky promise?"

Noah linked his pinky with Beth's and then kissed their interlocked fingers, "I promise you will see me tomorrow baby. But for tonight me and Kaleb are going to have a sleepover at Finn's and you're going to have a sleepover with Rachel and all the girls." he explained.

"Is Quinn coming over?"

"Yep" Noah smiled, "Quinn and Santana and Brittany and Mercedes and Tina, I think my Mom and sister might come over too, oh and Kurt's going to be here."

"Kurt's a boy" Beth giggled.

"I know. But he's Rachel's friend" Noah explained simply.

"Is Blaine coming too?" over the past few months Beth had met all of the glee club and she was finally beginning to come out of her shell around them.

"I don't know Bee, you'll have to wait and see."

Beth giggled again, "That rhymes."

"I know" Puck's grin matched Beth's. "Now give me kisses so I can go and the others can come round."

Beth kissed Noah and Kaleb and with a final goodbye to Rachel, husband-to-be and son left the house. Rachel tucked Beth into the spare bed beside Noah's sister that night but wasn't surprised to find the bed empty when she woke, Beth snuggled between Quinn and Brittany on the airbed on the dining room floor and Noah's sister on the other end of the sofa to Tina.

"Morning Rae" Brittany smiled sleepily, "how long til the wedding?"

Rachel looked at the clock on the wall, "five and a half hours."

"I'm so excited" Brittany grinned, pulling the blankets so close to her chin that her bare toes peeked out at the bottom of the bed.

"I'm going to shower" Rachel smiled, "you get some more sleep."

Rachel and Noah had decided not to have a big traditional Jewish wedding, they knew that the majority of their friends weren't Jewish and might not understand or appreciate the customs involved in the wedding. Neither of them were especially religious either and their parents had fully understood and supported their decision to have a mainly non-religious ceremony that all their friends and family would appreciate, their Rabbi however had agreed to say a short Hebrew blessing during the ceremony.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel was surprised when she stepped out of her ensuite in nothing but a towel and found the girls sat on her bed waiting for her.

"Erm, gee Berry" Santana told the bride to be as she stepped forward brandishing Rachel's curling tongs, "could it have something to do with that huge white dress hanging on your wardrobe? Could we possibly be here to help you get ready for your wedding?" She asked sarcastically.

"Hey" Brittany smiled, "that might be the last time you get to call her Berry, in" she paused and counted on her fingers, "four hours and thirty seven minutes she's not going to called Berry any more"

"Okay" Santana saw the tears building in Rachel's eyes, "if you're going to get all weepy and emotional do it now, you are not going to cry once we've done your make up" she said sternly, "we've got getting you ready on a schedule and we've only given you a half hour window to get all your crying out, we don't have time for you to do it twice."

The girls curled Rachel's hair before making her a light breakfast, doing her make up and finally helping her into the halter-neck dress. Everyone had been surprised at how simple the dress was, everyone had expected Rachel to choose the biggest, frilliest dress in the shop, they'd expected her to be a complete bridezilla but she'd been nothing but calm in the run up to the wedding. In her eyes she and Noah already lived as a married couple, today was changing nothing but her last name.

"Oh Rachel" Quinn sighed, "you look amazing." The dress was simple but it was perfect, it showed off the curves she'd gained through having Kaleb but still highlighted just how small she really was.

"I feel like a princess" Rachel confessed as she desperately tried to blink back the tears that had formed in her eyes.

"You look like one" Brittany agreed.

The morning flew by and before she knew it Rachel was being helped into the car to go to her own wedding. She shook with nerves as her fathers helped her out of the car at the hotel they'd hired for the wedding. "You look like a Princess Princess." Leroy told her as Hiram dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief

Noah had never believed in all the rubbish he'd heard about love but as he saw Rachel walking down the aisle with Hiram and Leroy his breath caught in his throat and his stomach tightened. Rachel was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, she really did take his breath away. "Hey" he whispered as Hiram placed Rachel's hand in his, "you look amazing."

"Thanks" Rachel grinned and squeezed Noah's slightly sweaty palm, "so do you."

Noah smiled at Rachel, "last chance to back out" he told her, "if you don't run now you'll be stuck with me for the rest of your life." He could tell she was nervous and he tried to make her smile.

It worked, "if I stay you'll be stuck with me too" she smiled softly.

"Good" Noah said simply, "cos I'm not going anywhere."

The registrar welcomed the guests to the ceremony and it was soon time for the first reading. Hiram and Leroy had agreed that one of them would read something at the ceremony and the other would make the speech at the reception. They tossed a coin and Leroy's reading came right before the vows, "I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect reading for today and this one just seemed to stand out. No one told me it had to be formal" he laughed slightly and Rachel began to panic about what her father had chosen to read to their family and friends. "_The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, his cage_." He began, "_Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur. The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur's cage with kind words and loving thoughts. I like this Dinosaur thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny. He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now." _Rachel grinned up at Noah, it seemed oddly fitting, it was also exactly the sort of thing Rachel should have expected from Leroy. "_I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur. She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice. She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur." _Noah smiled back at Rachel, it was true, she was beautiful and different and he loved how she smelt when she'd just stepped from the shower. "B_ut he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. He is also overly fond of things. Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of things? But her mind skips from here to there so quickly thought the Dinosaur. She is also uncommonly keen on shopping. Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?" _Everyone laughed _ "I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for things, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual_. _I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought the Dinosaur. For she fills our life with beautiful thoughts and wonderful surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either. Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old. Look at them. Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs. And that, my friends, is how it is with love. Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together. For the sun is warm. And the world is a beautiful place." _ Rachel wiped a tear from her eyes as Leroy finished the reading, she hoped one day she and Noah would stand together, watching over their grandchildren and reminiscing on the times gone by.

Leroy took a moment to speak to his daughter as he stepped from the small stage at the front of the room, "I love you princess" he kissed her cheek before turning his attention to Noah, "hurt her and I'll kill you" he growled only half jokingly as he moved back to his seat.

"Noah and Rachel have written their own vows" the registrar told Rachel and Noah's family and friends, "Noah, would you like to go first?"

Noah nodded and turned to face Rachel, taking both of her hands in his own "Rachel, I want to start by telling you that I love you. I don't think it's any surprise that when I was younger I'd have told you there was no way you'd find me getting married, but then I met you Rach. I met you and I still couldn't imagine myself standing in front of all our family friends to tell the world I wanted to settle down and spend the rest of my life with one woman. Unless of course that woman was you. I could spend the rest of the day listing the things I need to thank you for, but I wont. You've changed me Rach and no one can deny it's been a change for the better and you've put your dreams, your entire life on hold to bring up our beautiful children. Kaleb is the most awesomest thing in the world Rach, thank you for bringing him into my life, and after Shelby. . .well you know, you were so accepting, allowing us to adopt Beth into our family without even pausing to think about it. You're an amazing person Rachel, I love you and I love the person I am when I'm with you. I don't know what the future holds for us, but as long as you're by my side I feel like I can take on the world. I want to wake up to your beautiful smile every morning, I want to be the one that wipes away your tears, I even want to be the one you throw things at when I make you angry. I love you Rachel and I'll be so proud to call you my wife."

"And now for Rachel's vows."

"Noah" Rachel's voice quivered as a tear ran down her face but Noah was quick to wipe it away for her, "Noah" she began again. "I know I'm not always the easiest person to live with. I know that I can be stubborn and demanding, and sometimes I'm more of a diva than Kurt and Mercedes put together." She paused as their friends and family laughed, "and I want to thank you for putting up with me. I'm so glad that you finally listened to your mom for once and came out to New York I don't know how I'd have lived out there without you, I might sound stupid or needy but when you're not with me I feel like I'm not complete I feel like there's a part of me missing. You've stolen my heart Noah, but I know you'll take good care of it. I used to think my future was Broadway, my name in lights but now when I see my future I see you, I see Kaleb and Beth playing out in the garden with however many other children we are blessed with. Thank you for making me realise that there were things that were more important than being on stage. Thank you for giving me everything I didn't even know I wanted. Thank you for our beautiful family and thank you for asking me to be your wife. I can't imagine my life without you and I will be honoured to become Mrs Puckerman, all I want in my life is you. You're more than my partner Noah, you're my best friend. I've already given you my heart, and today I give you my everything. I promise you the rest of my life Noah, good or bad we'll face it together as friends, as soul mates and after today as husband and wife."

It wasn't long before the words everyone had been waiting for were uttered, "Noah and Rachel, by the power vested in my by the state of the Ohio I am delighted to pronounce you husband and wife. Noah, you may now kiss your bride."

Noah's lips connected with Rachel's and for a brief moment she forgot that there was anyone else in the room, it was just her and Noah, her and her husband an she couldn't be happier!

"I'm a very lucky man" Hiram announced as he began his speech at the reception later that evening, "I'm lucky because almost thirty five years ago I found my soul mate, I found the man who I later was able to call my husband. I also feel lucky to have seen Rachel and Noah's relationship from the beginning. I stopped them eating the mud pies they made in the garden when they were toddlers, I took Noah to the hospital and convinced Rachel he wasn't going to die when at ten years old he jumped from the swing set in our yard broke his wrist and gave himself concussion and more recently I've made sure bedroom doors stayed open and I've seen Rachel's face light up when she spoke to Noah on the phone. I was there when he made her cry after telling her he didn't want her to be her boyfriend any more before quickly telling her he wanted to be her husband and I watched them fall in love with each other all over again as they bonded over my grandson in the hospital. I saw that even when things were tough they pulled together to give Beth a home and a family that love her and I am so proud of them both for doing that. I think along with my husband and Noah's Mom, we realised that Noah and Rachel were made for each other before even they did and while I'm happy for Noah and Rachel, I still feel like today I'm loosing my baby girl but I can honestly say that there is no one I would rather loose her too than Noah and my only wish is that they are every bit as happy as my husband and I are not only today but for the rest of their lives. So before I start sobbing I'd like you to join me in a toast to the happy couple, my beautiful daughter and her husband, to Rachel and Noah."

"To Rachel and Noah!" Everyone cheered

"I'm going to keep this short" Noah's speech was next, "I just want to thank you Mr Schue" Puck raised his glass in the air, tilting it towards his old teacher "for starting up glee club cos if you hadn't I'd probably never have realised just how damn awesome Rachel is. I want to thank Rachel for being so damn awesome and I want to thank you all for coming here today to eat the food we've paid for and drink the champagne we bought. Thanks a lot."

The glee club sang 'Sweet Caroline' as the couple danced for the first time as husband an wife and Rachel couldn't tear the grin from her face, no matter how much her cheeks ached she just couldn't stop. She was however surprised when Noah pulled away from her at the end of their dance, "something I've gotta do babe" he told her, kissing her cheek before walking off. The next time she saw him was ten minutes later and he stood on the stage with a microphone in his hand, "Hey" he spoke loudly, "I just want your attention for two more minutes then you can drink the bar dry. I know you all know that I first got with my wife" he paused to grin at Rachel who had been pushed to the front of the crowd, "in our high school glee club, so I thought it only right that I sing something to her tonight, and after playing a lot of shit on youtube I found the perfect song." He made eye contact with Rachel, "please don't kill me babe." Puck picked up the guitar Sam had left on the side of the stage and placed the microphone in the stand, _"I wanna make you smile whenever you're sad, carry you around when your arthritis is bad, oh all I wanna do is grow old with you_." His eyes found Rachel again and he saw a blush spreading over her cheeks, _"I'll get you medicine when your tummy aches, build you a fire if the furnace breaks, oh it could be so nice, growing old with you. I'll miss you, kiss you, give you my coat when you are cold, need you, feed you, even let ya hold the remote control." _There was a giggle from their friends and family and Noah jumped from the stage to stand in front of Rachel, his wife, he'd never get tired of hearing that. _"So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink, put you to bed when you've had too much to drink, I could be the man who grows old with you. I wanna grow old with you."_

"Oh Noah" Rachel sighed, "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you too Noah" she ran her fingers through his hair as his lips found hers.

"Come out side" he mumbled against her lips, linking his fingers with hers and pulling her gently towards the door

"Noah we can't."

"It's our wedding babe, we can do what the hell we want, and anyway, I want five minutes alone with my wife." He lead her out of the room where the party was being held and into the beautifully landscaped gardens, "I love you Rach" he kissed her again as he sat on a wooden bench beside her, "I don't think you'll ever realise how happy you've made me."

"Noah" Rachel sighed and curled into his side, shivering slightly as she laid her head on his shoulder, "you make me so happy too, I barely slept last night, the bed was so empty without you."

Noah smiled and shrugged off his suit jacket so he could wrap it around Rachel's bare shoulders, "I didn't sleep too well either, it felt weird waking up with Kaleb but not you or Beth."

"Let's not do it again". Rachel said decisively, "let's always sleep in the same bed."

"I think I can agree to that." Noah sat for a moment just taking in the beauty that was his wife, in that moment they were the only people on the earth, "hey" he spoke eventually, "if you look in the left pocket there's something for you."

Rachel reached into the pocket and pulled out a familiar box, "Oh Noah" she gasped, "you shouldn't have, "you already got me the ring."

"Don't be stupid Rach, this is one of the most important days in our relationship, I'm not going to miss this out." Rachel opened the box to find a silver heart entwined with a gold one, "turn it over" Noah told her and Rachel did to find he'd had the date of their wedding engraved on the back, a perfect reminder of the day she officially signed her heart over to him, the day she promised him the rest of her life.


End file.
